Joachim Deckarm
Joachim Deckarm 16 May 2009
Joachim " Jo " Deckarm ( born January 19, 1954 in Saarbrücken ) is a former German track and field athlete and handball player. He was with VfL Gummersbach three times German handball champion and twice European Cup winners. In addition, he completed 104 caps for the German national team, with whom he won the Men's Handball World Championship in 1978. In a European Cup game in March 1979 he suffered after a collision with another player during a hard fall a heavy craniocerebral trauma, as a result, he was in a coma for months and has to rely on help today. He currently lives in an assisted living facility in his hometown.
Career
In his youth Deckarm started with athletics. He was German youth champion in the pentathlon. Later he started with the hand ball game. Joachim Deckarm was a very famous handball player who had to be his playing days as the best handball players in the world. His playing position was left back. As a player of VfL Gummersbach with the legendary jersey number 11 " Jo " was - that was his nickname as a handball - with VfL three times German Champion (1974, 1975, 1976 ) and two European Cup Winners (1974, 1978). On 2 December 1973, he was in Tbilisi in the game against Romania his international debut. In 104 appearances for the national team, he threw a total of 381 goals. 1978, at the height of his career, he led the DHB team together with Heiner Brand for the second Handball World Cup title in Germany after winning the title in 1938.
Sports accident
On March 30, 1979 he was killed in the 23 minutes of the semi-final game ( European match of the Cup Winners' Cup ) VfL Gummersbach in Tatabánya, Hungary, difficult. He was met with a quick counter attack with his Hungarian opponent Lajos Pánovics unhappy together and fell to the ground unconscious. He crashed his head unrestrained on the coated only with a thin layer of PVC cement floor, so he carried off a double fracture of the skull, a brain skin cracking and severe brain contusions.
Joachim Deckarm wake up until 132 days later from a coma. Due to the brain damage he was motorized fallen back to the level of a toddler and had the ability to speak forfeited. He could not walk well and has since been confined to a wheelchair. In the following three years, he had to complete many therapies, but they all did not lead to the desired result, so it is considered long-term care since the fall of 1982. At this time, his former handball coach Werner Hürter its accepted. With targeted therapies, especially for Joachim Deckarm developed training programs Hürter counteracted the motor disabilities and gave the first impassive and drive weak young man back his courage.
Presence
Since mid-2002 Joachim Deckarm lives in an assisted living facility in his hometown of Saarbrücken. On January 19, 2007, the date of the opening match of the World Cup 2007 in Germany, Joachim Deckarm celebrated in the sold-out Berlin's Max -Schmeling-Halle as guest of honor his 53rd birthday. In Saarbrücken, the Joachim- Deckarm sports hall is named after him.
On 24 May 2009, presented Uli Hoeness, then manager of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich, the former handball coach Heiner Brand a check in the amount of 35,000 euros. The money came from the phrases pig DSF transmission -two and is intended for Joachim- Deckarm Foundation.
September 30, 2009 Deckarm was awarded the Prize of the German corner of which is endowed with 4,000 euros, as a tribute to his " irrepressible will to live ". The prize money was donated to the fund Deckarm the German Sports Aid Foundation.
On 31 May 2013, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German sport.