Michael Teuber (born 23 January 1968) is a German para-cyclist competing in C1 classification events. Teuber has represented Germany in four Summer Paralympic Games and is a multiple medal winner in both

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and track disciplines. He has been named male German disability Sportsperson of the year on two occasions and is a Laureus World Sports Awards winner.

Personal history

Teuber was born in

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an ...

, Germany in 1968. In August 1987, at the age of 19, he was involved in a car accident in France. The injuries he sustained from that incident resulted in an incomplete paraplegia to the lumbar spine, and complete paralysis below the knee joint. He spent the three years after the accident in a wheelchair. Teuber was a nominee for the

Laureus Award The Laureus World Sports Awards is an annual award ceremony honouring individuals and teams from the world of sports along with sporting achievements throughout the year. It was established in 1999 by Laureus Sport for Good Foundation foundin ...

in 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2010. He was named German disability athlete of the year in both 2005 and 2009. He has been twice awarded 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 Bay Leaf), in 2005 and 2008. He was appointed a Paralympic Ambassador in 2008 by Sir Philip Craven, head of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Teuber is married and has one daughter.

Cycling career

Ten years after his accident Teuber competed at his first Paracycling World Championship. In 1998 he took first place in the time trial event at the Road Race World Championship, his first major title. He qualified for the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

in Sydney, finishing sixth in the Road Race and 7th in the pursuit. Four years later Teuber experienced his most successful Paralympics, securing two gold medals at the 2004 Games in Athens, the Individual pursuit (LC 4) and the Time trial/Road race (LC4). His gold in the Individual Pursuit was almost lost when the day before the race one of his carbon

orthoses Orthotics ( el, Ορθός, translit=ortho, lit=to straighten, to align) is a medical specialty that focuses on the design and application of orthoses, or braces. An is "an externally applied device used to influence the structural and functio ...

, that supported his ankles, broke. With no spares it took two technicians working through the night to construct a replacement in time for him to compete. Success continued at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

in Beijing with another two medals, this time a gold in the Road time trial (LC4) and a silver in the Individual pursuit (LC 4), losing to a world record breaking time by Italy's Paolo Viganò. Teuber won a fifth career gold medal in the London Games where he won the Road time trial (C1). On 30 November 2018 Teuber set a new UCI World Hour Record for the C1 classification of 42.583 km at

Velodrom (Berlin) The Velodrom (velodrome) is an indoor track cycling arena, in the Prenzlauer Berg locality of Berlin, Germany. Holding up to 12,000 people, it was also Berlin's largest concert venue, until the opening of O2 World in 2008. It is part of a large ...

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