Barbara Gross (german: Barbara Groß, born 20 November 1993) is a 4.5 point

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

player, who played for the German national team at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, winning silver. President

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician and civil rights activist who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in E ...

awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the ''

Silbernes Lorbeerblatt Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest sports award in Germany, was endowed on 23 June 1950 by the German President Theodor Heuss. It is awarded to athletes and teams of exemplary character that have won medals at Olympic and ...

'' (Silver Laurel Leaf).

Biography

Barbara Gross was born in

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

on 20 November 1993. She is classified as a 4.5 point

player. She played for the Under 25 national team at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in 2015, and then the senior team at the European championships (

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

). In 2016, 2017 and 2018, she played for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

in the United States. Her 2018 team includes fellow German national players Katharina Lang and Selena Rausch, and Canadian national players

Arinn Young Arinn Young (born July 10, 1996) is a Canadian 4.5 point wheelchair basketball player who won a gold medal at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto. Biography Arinn Young was born in St. Albert, Alberta, on Jul ...

and

Rosalie Lalonde Rosalie Lalonde (born March 27, 1997) is a Canadian 3.0 point wheelchair basketball player who won a silver medal at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto. In 2016, she was selected as part of the team for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Ri ...

. The Alabama team won its fifth national collegiate championship in March 2017, with a 57–48 win over the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

(UTA) in a match in which Gross scored 20 points with two assists. In 2018, Alabama came second, losing to UTA 65–55 in the final. Gross made her Paralympic debut at the

, where the German team won silver. President

awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the ''

'' (Silver Laurel Leaf) in 2016. In 2018, she was part of the team that won bronze at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In July 2020 she was one of nine paralympic athletes forced into retirement after the

International Wheelchair Basketball Federation The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the international governing body for the sport of wheelchair basketball. IWBF is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the sole competent authority in wheelchair ...

was forced to align its eligibility criteria with that of the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

. Gross appealed the decision of eligibility and won the right to compete in further competitions. Gross was selected for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo as a member of the German Women's Team where the team finished fourth.

Achievements

* 2015: Gold at European championships (

, England) * 2016: Silver at the Paralympic Games (

, Brazil) *2017: Silver European Championships (

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

, Spain) *2018: Bronze at the World Championships (

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany) *2019: Bronze at European Championships (Rotterdam, Netherlands) *2021: 4th at Paralympics (Tokyo, Japan)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Barbara 1993 births Living people German women's wheelchair basketball players Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of Germany Paralympic silver medalists for Germany Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics