All good things come in threes: Tom Habscheid at the Paralympics again

This article is provided to you free of charge. If you want to support our team and promote quality journalism, subscribe now.

"That really sucked, " says Tom Habscheid in a somewhat muffled voice on the phone. He is currently helping his son with his homework. The athlete is doing the interview on the side, in a relaxed manner, just the way he is. However, the shot putter doesn't like to think back to the Paralympic Summer Games three years ago, as his results back then were far below what he was used to. "I was one metre below my best performance and two places off what I was actually worth back then, " says Tom. Not the highlight of his career, despite the pride that every para-athlete takes in participating in the Olympics.

It should have been the end for the then 34-year-old, as he had neither the motivation nor the desire to continue training at a high level. "I simply didn't do anything for three months after Tokyo. I was done." However, Tom couldn't really sit still for that long; he had already considered moving into weight training beforehand. "So I started doing strongman sports and trained two to three times a week." The athlete also took part in a couple of athletics championships, but without much training and "just for the fun of it". "My convention as a semi-professional was over after Tokyo, so I was a normal mortal again, " says the athlete born in Useldange with a grin in his voice.