Regina Vollbrecht

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Regina Vollbrecht
marathon, long distance, goalball

Personal information
Type of disability (class): Fully blind (T11)
Nationality: GermanyGermany Germany
Birthday: December 28, 1976
Place of birth: Mönchhagen
Society: Pro Sport Berlin 24
Personal bests
 

Regina Vollbrecht (born December 28, 1976 in Mönchhagen ) is a blind long-distance runner and goalball player as well as the current world record holder in the women's blind marathon. She is an ambassador for the Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM).

Life

Since her birth on December 28, 1976 in Mönchhagen, northeast of Rostock, Regina Vollbrecht has been completely blind due to retinopathy of premature babies . At this highest level of visual impairment , the eyesight is completely extinguished. Visual perception is no longer possible. Blindness of this kind has far-reaching consequences for education and sporting activities. The individual characteristics of the visual impairment must be addressed in the course of upbringing.

School time and training

Regina Vollbrecht grew up in the GDR , where there was a very differentiated special school system . Vollbrecht first attended the Polytechnic High School for the Blind and then the Extended High School for the Visually Impaired , both in Königs Wusterhausen . The Extended High School for the Visually Impaired was the only school in the GDR that enabled blind people to complete their school education with the Abitur . Her athletic skills were promoted here. Vollbrecht was active in competitive sports, initially on short distances in running and swimming and in athletics. After the fall of the Wall, Vollbrecht was also able to take part in international competitions. She has been a member of the women's national goalball team since 1994 . She finished school with a general higher education entrance qualification. She began studying social pedagogy in 1996 at the University of Potsdam . Encouraged by meeting her future husband, whom she met in a tandem group, Vollbrecht has also been running long-haul routes since 1999 .

competitive sport

Both for training and in competition, Vollbrecht always depends on people to support her. From competitive sports for the blind, they can not live alone due to the low popularity and little financial support from advertising contracts and sponsorship involved. The sport is not very professionalized.

In disabled sports there are a number of classifications that structure competitions. On the one hand, a distinction is made between the type of disability. Class B categorizes athletes with visual impairment. The class is further differentiated by adding a number. Vollbrecht starts as a class B1 (fully blind) athlete. In athletics competitions, Vollbrecht starts in the T11 category. The letter differentiates the type of competition held, with the T standing for track . The number differentiates according to the type of disability. The numbers 11 through 13 classify athletes with visual impairment. Class 11 is the class of the completely blind (B1).

Vollbrecht took part in a marathon for the first time in 2000. After a short preparation, she mastered the Berlin Marathon with a time of four hours and 40 minutes. For the marathon, she needs a companion with whom she is in contact with each other via a rope. In the curve, it also guides you on your arm. Especially in the top sport that Vollbrecht does, the number of possible companions is falling, as they have to be able to keep up with the high speed and long distances of Vollbrecht. In the competition it is allowed to change the supporter up to four times (after 10, 20, 30 and 40 km).

In 2001 the first participation in the Ironman in Roth followed . In the triathlon , an accompanying person must also be constantly connected to Vollbrecht. A procedure adopted by her husband is used in swimming. The connection is a slightly inflated bicycle tube. Vollbrecht does breaststroke and no crawl swimming. A tandem is used when cycling. The difficulties in running have already been described for the marathon. At first she completed the triathlon distance with her husband as a companion runner.

In the same year she ran the Berlin Marathon again. This time in the German best time of class 11 of 3:56 h. Vollbrecht was unable to achieve her goal of participating in the 2004 Paralympics , in her then parade discipline over 5000 meters, as the competition was not Paralympic that year. However, Vollbrecht was able to qualify for the Paralympic Games in Athens with the goalball women's national team . With this she reached sixth place. Also in 2004 she ran the Frankfurt Marathon in world best time (3:45 h). The world record was not officially recognized because Vollbrecht, out of ignorance of her world record, had not given the doping test necessary for recognition . In 2005 she officially set the world record with 3:31 h at the Hamburg Marathon . At the German Marathon Championships for people with disabilities in 2007, Vollbrecht was the best with a new world record time. Since this year the starting field was too small for an official women's ranking, she is still not German champion. Vollbrecht is multiple German champion in the blind triathlon.

Vollbrecht is also able to run the world best over 5000 meters. At the German Championships in Athletics in 2007 she ran a world record with 19:56 min. Since she had no competition among the women, she started as the only runner in a field of men. To be officially recognized as a world record, Vollbrecht would have had to compete in a single women's run. Another attempt to officially set the world record failed in 2008.

Vollbrecht also practices other endurance sports: these include hourly runs , quadrathlon and 24-hour cycle races . Vollbrecht runs for Pro Sport Berlin 24 eV As a disabled athlete, she is organized in the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS).

In 2010, Vollbrecht set a new world record with 3:15:49 h at the Frankfurt Marathon .

Private

Your guide dog , a black royal poodle , is called Cooper. On the basis of her own experience with blindness, Vollbrecht developed the attitude to support other people. In this sense, she understands her commitment as a sporting ambassador for the Christoffel-Blindenmission.

Professional activities

Vollbrecht works at the SFZ Förderzentrum gGmbH Sehzentrum Berlin. She works with blind and visually impaired people. Her tasks include teaching braille and computer skills, as well as teaching the German language for migrants. It helps a lot that she can empathize with the learner's situation better than her seeing colleagues. This enables her to develop a very good relationship of trust that is fundamentally important for successful learning.

Sporting successes

  • 2004: Sixth place with the German women's goalball team at the Paralympics in Athens
  • 2004: world best time at the Frankfurt Marathon (3:45:29 h)
  • 2005: World record at the Hamburg Marathon
  • 2005: World record at the Berlin Marathon (3:22:08 h)
  • 2007: World record at the Hamburg Marathon (3:18:15 h)
  • 2007: German best time over 3000 meters (11:47 min) at the national athletics championships
  • 2007: Participation in the marathon in Nairobi (Kenya) (3:37 h)
  • 2010: world best time at the Frankfurt Marathon (3:15:49 h)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Brambring: Congenital blindness and severe visual impairment ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.familienhandbuch.de archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Online family handbook of the State Institute for Early Childhood Education, 2008.
  2. ↑ a b Horst Milde: From Sprint to Ironman and Marathon. Experiences of a blind athlete - Regina Vollbrecht , SCC Event, September 23, 2005.
  3. ↑ The Classification System of Paralympic Sports In: Federal Institute for Sport Science .
  4. ↑ Regina Vollbrecht wants to set standards www.cbm.de
  5. ↑ My start at the 29th Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon www.reginavollbrecht.de August 6, 2011 ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.reginavollbrecht.de
  6. ↑ Regina Vollbrecht wants to set an example ( memento from August 17, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), in: Portrait of the CBM Ambassadors, 2008.

Web links

Contributions by Regina Vollbrecht
personal data
SURNAME Vollbrecht, Regina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German long-distance runner and goalball player
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Mönchhagen