Emotional farewell: Para sprinter Irmgard Bensusan ends career

Emotional farewell: Para sprinter Irmgard Bensusan ends career

Irmgard Bensusan, an outstanding para sprinter from South Africa, recently celebrated a moving farewell to athletics. After the Paralympic Games in Paris, where she won an impressive bronze medal over 200 meters, she decided to end her sporting career and move back home. On her last day of competition over the 100-meter distance, she took eighth place, but at the moment the farewell it was the emotional connection to her teammates that counted the most.

"I am not allowed to cry yet, otherwise I will not stop," said Bensusan after her last race, in which she looked back on the past few years and her experiences. She spent valuable time to soak up the action around her before hugging her teammate Johannes Floors, who stepped onto the track immediately after her. Her wish was to "close everything into my heart" and to be aware that this was the end of your career.

a significant farewell to the team

Floors, who lovingly calls Bensusan "Aunt Irmi", openly shares his feelings about her farewell. "She had her last dance today. Both my silver medal and her appearance - that's all a reason to celebrate." Together the two athletes trained in Leverkusen, and for Floors, the loss of Bensusan is enormous: "I take a lot with me and it will be missing in our training group. But no matter where it moves, it will be a good holiday location."

Bensusan looks back on an impressive career that was characterized by numerous successes. Among other things, she secured five Paralympic silver medals and can look back on four world championship titles. Her biggest ambition was to take part in the Olympic Games. However, this chapter completed a severe fall over a hurdle in which an incurable nerve damage in her right lower leg was diagnosed early. Since then she has been dependent on an orthosis that she supports while running.

Despite the health challenges with which she was confronted, Bensusan never gave up her fighting spirit and inspired many, both at home and abroad. Her farewell is not only the end of a chapter for yourself, but also a significant loss for the para sports community and the many people who admired it.

In the last few days of her active career, Bensusan reflected on what sport meant for her: "It was very nice, I was sitting there for a long time and waiting for Johannes." This sentence shows the close connection that she had to her sport and colleagues, and everyone who knew her will not forget her joie de vivre and her unshakable will.