Léon Gabrial Schäfer (born 13 June 1997) is a German Paralympic athlete who competes in mainly sprinting 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 The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

. He finished in fourth place at the men's long jump T42. He represented Germany at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, 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 Inte ...

in Tokyo, Japan. In the long jump he won a silver medal. In the 100 metres he shared a bronze medal with

Jonnie Peacock Jonathan Peacock (born 28 May 1993) is an English sprint runner... An amputee, Peacock won gold at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics, representing Great Britain in the T44 men's 100 metres event. He won a bronze medal ...

Personal life

When Schäfer was twelve years old, he went

ice skating Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, 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. ...

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, an interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiology, interventional cardiologist. The process involves the extraction of sampling (medicine), sample ...

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

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

. After the diagnosis, he started

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

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 Athletes from Hanover Sportspeople from Leverkusen Athletes from Cologne (region) Sportspeople from Bremen (city) Athletes from Bremen (state) German people of African descent Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Paralympics 21st-century German sportsmen