Verena Bentele (born 28 February 1982, in

Lindau Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...

) is a blind

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Paralympic

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and shooting sports, rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into sh ...

and cross-country skier. She studied at the Carl-Strehl Schule, a special school for the blind and partially sighted in Marburg, Germany. She won her first Paralympic medals (one gold, two silver, one bronze) at the

1998 Winter Paralympics The , the seventh Paralympic Winter Games, were held alongside the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan from 5 to 14 March 1998. They were the first Paralympic Winter Games to be held outside Europe. 571 athletes competed in Nagano; as 2022 it remain ...

, followed by four gold medals at the 2002 Winter Paralympics, as well as two gold and one bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Paralympics She was also winner of the Combined World Cup in Biathlon und Cross-Country in 2006.

Career

During the 2009 German blind cross country championship, Bentele had a serious accident. Her sighted guide failed to give proper directions, so she fell down a slope in a dry river bed. She tore a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

in her knee, and suffered finger and liver injuries, and damaged one kidney so badly that it had to be removed. Despite this, only a year later, Bentele had her best Olympic result, winning five gold medals in the

2010 Winter Paralympics ) , nations = 44 , athletes = 506 , events = 64 in 5 sports , opening = 12 March , closing = 21 March , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Zach Beaumont , stadium = BC Place , winter_pr ...

in Vancouver. As a result of her performance at the Games, Bentele was named Best Female at the Paralympic Sport Awards. Bentele has won the "Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability" award for the year 2011. Late in 2011, she announced her retirement at the age of 29. In 2014 Bentele was inducted into the

Paralympic Hall of Fame The Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which was established by the International Paralympic Committee. On 30 August 2012 five paralympic athletes were inducted into the fourth ''Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame'' in a ceremony in Lond ...

. Bentele was nominated by the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

to be a delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

in 2010, 2012 and 2017. She joined the party in 2012.

Federal Government Commissioner for Matters relating to Disabled Persons, 2014–2018

In January 2014, Bentele was appointed Federal Government Commissioner for Matters relating to Disabled Persons in the government of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

. In this capacity, she was part of the

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (german: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, ), abbreviated BMAS) is a federal ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs a ...

under the leadership of minister

Andrea Nahles Andrea Maria Nahles (born 20 June 1970) is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022. Nahles is best known for having served as leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from April 2 ...

and heads the government's focal point in charge of monitoring the implementation of the

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, ...

. She served in that position until 2018.

Other activities

German Sport University Cologne German Sport University Cologne (German: Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln, DSHS, Spoho), is a sport university in Cologne, Germany. History The Sport University Cologne was founded in 1947. After the Sport University had changed its name to "G ...

(DSHS), Member of the University Council * German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of TrusteesBoard of Trustees
German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR). *

National Paralympic Committee Germany National Paralympic Committee Germany ( ger. Deutsche Behindertensportverband e.V. (DBS)) is responsible for Germany's participation in the Paralympic Games. The DBS represents rehabilitation sports, popular sports, and professional sports. Foot ...

(DBS), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012)

References

External links