Léon Gabrial Schäfer (born 13 June 1997) is a German

Paralympic athlete The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about ...

who competes in mainly

sprinting Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an op ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

events at international level events and is a current world record holder in the men's long jump T63.

Career

He has represented Germany 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 ...

. He finished in fourth place at the men's long jump T42 where he narrowly missed the bronze medal and will be representing Germany at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

in Tokyo, Japan.

Personal life

When Schäfer was twelve years old, he went

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

and fell and skidded along the ice. He noticed that a bump was visible on his right leg that he injured after his fall on ice, he went to see a doctor and got a

biopsy A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiologist. The process involves extraction of sample cells or tissues for examination to determine the presence or extent of a diseas ...

of his shin bone and two months later, it was revealed that he had malignant

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...

. After the diagnosis, he started

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

and they operated on the affected bone part of his shin and inserted an iron rod but his foot didn't accept the rod and it developed

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

and he ended up having part of his right leg to be amputated.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Leon 1997 births Living people German male sprinters German male long jumpers German male high jumpers Paralympic athletes for Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships World Para Athletics Championships winners Sportspeople from Hanover Sportspeople from Leverkusen Sportspeople from Bremen (city) German people of African descent