Mareike Miller

Started: She began playing wheelchair basketball at age 18 at ASV Bonn in Germany. (Athlete, 21 Jul 2016) Reason: "I grew up with sports and the desire to play in a team. When finding out I could no longer play able-bodied basketball I was devastated. My sports teacher introduced me to wheelchair basketball. I was glad I found a way to continue to compete alongside great athletes striving for common goals and building friendships through sports. I loved it from the first try." (Athlete, 28 Aug 2024, 21 Jul 2016; newsaktuell.de, 10 Apr 2019; fr.de, 15 Aug 2018) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (Instagram profile, 20 Apr 2024; abendblatt.de, 01 Jan 2024) Milestones: She is one of three players [along with Maya Lindholm and Anne Patzwald] named in Germany's team for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris that also took part in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, where Germany won silver. She and Lindholm are the only two players on Germany's team in Paris who were also part of the 2012 Paralympic gold medal winning team. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Jul 2024) Awards: She was part of the women's wheelchair basketball team that was named 2021 Para Team of the Year by the German Disabled Sports Association [DBS]. (dbs-npc.de, 27 Nov 2021) She and cyclist Michael Teuber were flag bearers for Germany at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (spiegel.de, 23 Aug 2021) In 2018 she was named Female Athlete of the Year in a poll organised by a Hamburg radio station. (hsv-ev.de, 19 Dec 2018) In 2012 and 2016 she was presented with the Silberne Lorbeerblatt [Silver Laurel Leaf] in recognition of her achievements at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games. (bundespraesident.de, 01 Nov 2016; bundespraesident.de, 07 Nov 2012) Additional Info: OCCUPATION She works as a sales team leader for a news media corporation based in Hamburg, Germany. (LinkedIn profile, 20 Apr 2024) OTHER ACTIVITIES In 2020 she was elected chairperson of the German Disabled Sports Association [DBS] athletes' council. She has also served in other roles for the organisation, including as an athletes' representative for women's wheelchair basketball between 2017 and 2021 and as a member of the athletes' council between 2017 and 2020. She has also served on the executive committee of Athletes Germany, an organisation set up in 2017 to independently represent the interests of German athletes. (LinkedIn profile, 20 Apr 2024; deutschlandfunk.de, 30 Oct 2021) FURTHER EDUCATION In 2014 she graduated with a master's degree in marketing and project management from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the United States of America. (LinkedIn profile, 20 Apr 2024)