Para-athlete Mathias Mester surprisingly ends his career two months before the Paralympics in Tokyo.
“You should go when it's most beautiful.
And if the degree is then gilded, it is of course very special.
Ultimately, however, it was also my physical condition that prompted me to make this decision, ”he announced on Thursday.
The short javelin thrower had won the title at the Para European Athletics Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, last week.
He now goes “with one laughing and one crying eye.
It was an amazing time, ”said the 34-year-old from Coesfeld.
Seven times world champion
The 1.42 m tall athlete was seven times world champion, four times European champion and 22 times German champion.
In 2007 Mester was elected Para Athlete of the Year of the German Disabled Sports Association, in 2008 he received the Silver Laurel Leaf and in 2020 the special prize of the DBS.
“Matze has inspired us as athletes for many years and won numerous titles.
With his sympathetic and humorous manner he was known far beyond the boundaries of para sports, an absolute figurehead ”, praised DBS President Friedhelm Julius Beucher the joker who has made a name for himself with funny appearances on social media in recent years.
He will “of course always remain connected to the sport,” said Mester: “Basically, however, I can imagine many things, such as the entertainment sector.
I enjoy making people laugh with my positive way of doing things. "