Abassia Rahmani

Started: She took up Para athletics in 2014. "In 2013 I put on racing blades for the first time. I then saved up for a little over a year for my first blades and slowly started training. At first everything hurt after just 10 minutes. I hadn't run at all for a good four years before that. My muscles and tendons had to get used to it again." (schweizer-illustrierte.ch, 15 Mar 2021; zueriost.ch, 02 Mar 2017) Reason: German Paralympian Heinrich Popow gave her tips on getting into the sport. "I met a Paralympic athlete who encouraged me to do sport with prostheses. They felt great from the beginning. After my first real competition, it was clear to me that I wanted to become a professional [Para] athlete." (srf.ch, 09 Apr 2020; kirchhoff-automotive.com, 15 Mar 2016; bild.de, 26 Sep 2019) Awards: She was presented the 2020 Swiss Diversity Award in the sport category in Switzerland. (zueriost.ch, 09 Sep 2020; swissparalympic.ch, 07 Sep 2020) She was named 2016 Athlete of the Year in Winterthur, Switzerland. (zueriost.ch, 02 Mar 2017) Additional Info: FOCUS ON SPORT In August 2018 she left her part-time job as a clerk in order to focus her attention on a full-time athletics career. She also moved from Wila to Winterthur in Switzerland to maximise her training regime. "Achieving big things requires a great deal of risk. I save so many hours in the car not driving back and forth [to Winterthur]." (swissparalympic.ch, 19 May 2024; landbote.ch, 15 May 2019)