Inclusion Inclusion

Dear visitors of the MOVE as part of the 50th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON, half a century ago, when the starting gun for the 1st Berlin People’s Marathon was fired in front of the Mommsen Stadium in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district, none of the 286 participants could have imagined that the BERLIN-MARATHON would develop into what it is today.

Over the past five decades, the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON has grown into a traditional event that has become an integral part of today’s sports calendar. This year, we are expecting over 50,000 runners to adorn themselves with their well-earned medals as finishers shortly after the Brandenburg Gate — along with skaters, handbikers and wheelchair athletes.

What is currently considered innovative at many major sporting events like the Olympic Games or World Championships — integrating mass sports and inclusion to create further acceptance — has been a fundamental part of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON since its inception. Top-level sports on a global scale, mass participation, and inclusion have always been the pillars of our successful implementations.

Even in the early years of the BERLIN-MARATHON, a holistic approach was taken, so the integration of handbikers and wheelchair athletes into the event was an early focus that continues to evolve. Core values such as cosmopolitanism, tolerance and acceptance are a matter of course for SCC EVENTS, the organisers of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON.

The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON is an open and inclusive event, completely free from discrimination and homophobia, where all people are warmly welcome to celebrate a peaceful sporting festival together.

With the MOVE at the Brandenburg Gate, a meeting place has been created, a space to linger and enjoy. The exhibitions at MOVE bring the history and flair of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON to life. We are very pleased that the Unseen project has enriched the MOVE in such a masterful way.

I am honored to write this foreword and extend my heartfelt congratulations to SC Charlottenburg on its 50th anniversary. Together, we have made Berlin Marathon history.

Since the marathon’s debut in 1974, much has evolved. The course was moved into the city, wheelchair users joined in 1981, and in 1994, the wheelchair marathon became part of the World Para Athletics Championships. Since 2004, handcyclists have competed, and in 2005, I ran alongside blind and visually impaired athletes.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into effect in Germany in 2009, marked a shift towards embracing human diversity. Since 2017, the International German Championships in Para Athletics have been held, and in 2022, athletes from the Special Olympics participated.

Athletes with disabilities are now an integral part of the Berlin Marathon. The event has implemented what I have always said about my career: “Most of my races are run alongside sighted people, inclusively.”

For years, athletes with impairments have been able to participate equally, and their visibility has had a positive impact on other areas of life. Whether we have disabilities or not, we all want to experience the most vibrant atmosphere on the fastest course in the world.

As part of the exhibition to mark the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON’s 50th anniversary exhibition at MOVE, the panel discussion “Breaking Ground - Grenzen überwinden”, on the subject of inclusion, will take place at MOVE on September 28th at 3 pm.

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“Who would choose to be blind?” Tien-Fung Yap muses during a morning 10k run with his guide, Julian Gering. “People often sneak into my Paralympic classification, T12, who actually belong in T13 and could manage without a guide,” criticizes Tien-Fung, Germany’s top visually impaired marathon runner.

Tien-Fung grew up in Gelsenkirchen playing football and table tennis until he suddenly lost vision in his left eye at 17. He now has only about 5% vision due to Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy. “It shook my world,” he recalls. “But it also unlocked many inner strengths. I am a completely different person now.”

Once spending a lot of money on sports betting and struggling with motivation, Tien-Fung now works as a physiotherapist. In 2021, he achieved a career milestone by breaking the German T12 marathon record with a time of 2 hours and 45 minutes.

His location depends on finding enough guides, which led him to move from Mainz to Freiburg last year. In the green valleys of the Breisgau, Tien-Fung chases his Paralympic dream. But the news from Paris in mid-July was disappointing: Tien-Fung was once again not selected. He would have been so happy.

“Running a marathon is like giving birth. At some point, you think, ‘What a nightmare,’ but by the time you reach the finish line, it’s not so bad,” says Michaela Kummer. The masseuse from the Black Forest has two children and has completed a dozen marathons despite cone-rod dystrophy, which nearly blinded her.

She hid her disability for a long time, fearing how others might see her. A turning point came when her husband, Oliver, went to drive her home after a bike race, and Michaela mistakenly climbed into a stranger’s car of the same colour. “That’s when Oli realised I could barely see,” she recalls.

Neither their love nor her passion for sports suffered. Oliver has supported her in training and competitions ever since. In 2010, Michaela set a world record in Frankfurt: 3 hours, 11 minutes. But she never realised her dream of competing in the Paralympics. “There just wasn’t any interest,” Michaela says, frustrated by the lack of support for athletes and the bureaucratic hurdles.

It wasn’t until 2017, before the Tokyo Paralympics, that national coach Marion Peters reached out. “Is your mother still running?” she asked Michaela’s son. “Do you even know how old my mother is?,” he quipped, fully aware that his mother was capable of anything. Michaela says she’s always aimed to be a role model: “To show that even with limited vision, I can still achieve something.”

For Ulrike Wilhelm, running is both the joy of her life and a constant reminder of two sudden losses.

In 2007, her father, Wilfried, went out for a training run at 69 years old and never returned. A heart attack abruptly ended the dedicated Rennsteiglauf participant’s life.

Ulrike inherited not only her father’s passion for running but also his rare condition, aniridia, where the iris is missing or underdeveloped. This leaves her with just 2% vision in one eye and complete blindness in the other. But she hasn’t let it stop her. Instead, Ulrike has become a passionate advocate for the sport.

When she met her partner Torsten in 1993, it didn’t take long to convert him from football to running. They competed together in countless races, enjoyed training runs in the scenic mountains of their hometown, Harras, and thrived on the energy of the crowds at the Berlin Marathon.

Then came another devastating blow. Five years ago, Torsten lost control of his motorcycle during a license test and died in the accident. Ulrike lost not just her husband, but also her running guide. Since then, she has trained alone and must find a new guide for every race.

Physical education classes were often a nightmare for Melina Gerber, who was born with retinitis pigmentosa. She struggled with ball games, frequently missing the ball, collided with the edge of the table during table tennis, and hid behind a tree before running laps.

As a child, she had about 30% vision, but now she has only 3%. Despite these obstacles, she overcame her sports trauma. “After a breakup, I started jogging with my cousin in 2017,” she says. “I wanted to lose weight needed to clear my head.”

Later that year, Melina started competing in races and loved the thrill of running in front of crowds. However, she soon faced a major challenge. “I had to learn to trust my guide,” she says. “In 2018, I fractured my ankle. My guide was distracted by a cyclist, and I misjudged the curb.” The fear of another accident lingered, but Melina’s passion for running kept her going.

Melina also found support among her colleagues. Many of her guides came from her workplace at the Ministry of Finance. “Health management is a priority there”, she says, and she is equally grateful for her family’s support. When both of her regular guides were unavailable before the GENERALI Berlin Half Marathon in 2022, her mother stepped in. It didn’t matter that she wasn‘t a runner herself: “We made it work.”

“I’ve always been in a rush,” Regina Vollbrecht jokes. Born prematurely at seven months, she arrived in the world long before anyone expected her. In the incubator, the oxygen level was set too high, causing her retinas to detach. She has been blind ever since.

Regina’s sports career is impossible to capture in just a few lines. For 15 years, she was a leading figure in blind sports. She competed in the Paralympics in goalball, unofficially broke the world record in the 5000 meters, and set a new marathon record.

But her biggest dream—to compete in the marathon at the Paralympics—never materialised. “I was a few years too early,” Regina says, who had hoped for more support from the German Paralympic Committee. It wasn’t until the 2016 Paralympics in Rio that the marathon was included for women. By then, six years after her impressive 3 hours and 15 minutes at the Frankfurt Marathon, the demands of balancing elite sports with a full-time job had taken a toll on her body.

“Even though I’m no longer a competitive athlete, I still have that fighting spirit,” Regina reflects. She continues to run as a hobby and tirelessly advocates for an inclusive society in her role as the Commissioner for People with Disabilities in Berlin’s Reinickendorf district.

Michael Bentele was still in kindergarten when he and his younger sister Verena started pushing the boundaries of what was possible. “Why don’t you just jump out of the window?” Michael suggested to his sister, who was too small to climb down the steps to the balcony on her own. Verena took the leap, got a scare, and landed safely on the floor below. Although the blind siblings later became known for cross-country skiing and biathlon rather than ski jumping, testing limits remained a constant theme in their lives.

Cross-country skiing while blind is one of those limits. “You always have to travel to find snow, and finding guides is tough because there aren’t many skilled skiers willing to do it,” Michael recalls from his competitive days—a time that, unlike his sister’s, wasn’t filled with medals.

Running, on the other hand, is easier. In running, the guide is connected to the blind runner by a tether, not just by voice, making for a smoother process. Still, people seeing this for the first time often make dismissive remarks like, “He’s got him on a leash!”. Michael has learned to respond with patience. “I usually just explain what’s going on,” he says. “The running community is incredibly kind.”

Stefan Orben was just three years old when shards of a broken glass bottle struck his eyes. One eye was instantly blinded, and the other suffered severe damage. To protect his remaining vision and prevent further injury, doctors advised against playing sports. “I always tried to make the best of my remaining sight,” Stefan recalls. “It was exhausting, especially outdoors, where I’d sometimes see things that weren’t really there.”

After several surgeries, Stefan lost his remaining vision by the age of 26. For him, though, this loss brought a surprising sense of freedom. “Once the fear of total blindness was gone, I suddenly felt a strong urge to move,” he says. He started running on a treadmill and immediately knew he had found his sport.

Stefan connected with his first guides through notices at the university and later discovered Guidenetzwerk Deutschland, where he now trains guides himself. “It’s great to see how well the training is received and how many people want to get involved,” he says.

Still, recognition doesn’t always come easily. While advocating for increased funding for clubs to better support blind runners, Stefan regrets that “as a para-athlete, you have to take care of almost everything yourself.” However, Stefan can always count on one crucial support. Looking forward to the next BMW Berlin-Marathon, he can’t wait to hear the cheering coming from the side of the street: “You can really let the spectators carry you through the long course.”