East Germany, West Germany and Germany have won a total of 1915 Paralympic medals, of which 658 gold, 649 silver and 609 bronze. This is more than any country other than the United States and Great Britain. The International Paralympic Committee, however, maintains separate records for "West Germany" (1960–88) and "Germany" (1992–present), due to their separate IPC codes, giving West Germany a total of 938 medals (354 golds), and Germany a total of 973 (304 golds). This places the "two countries" seventh and eighth, respectively, on the all-time Paralympic Games medal table - behind the United States, Great Britain, China, Canada, Australia, and France.[3]
Germany has consistently been one of the world's strongest nations at the Paralympics. Prior to 2008, at the Summer Games, it had always been among the top ten on the medal tables, and was within the top three on six occasions. In 2008,they finished in the 11th place. At the Winter Games, Germany has always been among the top three, except in 1980 (7th), 1984 (4th) and 2018 (5th). It topped the medal table at the 1972 Summer Paralympics (which it hosted), and the 1976, 2002 and 2010 Winter Games.[4]
Among Germany's most successful Paralympians are[5]
Reinhild Möller, winner of 19 medals (of which 16 gold) in alpine skiing, and 4 medals (of which 3 are gold) in athletics
Claudia Hengst: 25 medals (of which 13 gold) in swimming
Frank Höfle: 17 medals (of which 10 gold) in cross-country skiing.
Medal tallies
These tallies include the results for both "Germany" and "West Germany". They do not include the four medals of East Germany at the Paralympics.
Summer Paralympics
Elfriede Ranz (Pilot) and Ursula Egner of Germany on the medal dais after winning silver in the Women's tandem Kilo on the track at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games.
German athletes who have won more than two golds at a single event in the Summer Paralympics. Categorised by medals earned, sports then gold medals earned.