Otto Bock at the Paralympic Games
The Otto Bock prosthetics company has its own special team at the Paralympic Winter Games.
What his descendants are doing now would probably have been utterly beyond Otto Bock’s wildest dreams. He was the man who founded an orthopaedic company in 1919 which specialized in walking aids for World War I invalids. Today, the Otto Bock Group has some 7,000 employees in 50 countries, supplies hi-tech prostheses and wheelchairs throughout the world and generated a turnover of almost 800 million euros with these products in 2012.
Only a small percentage of the turnover comes from products for top athletes. Nevertheless, the company that is based in the north German city of Duderstadt has been responsible for the technical service at the Paralympic Games for the past 26 years – irrespective of whether the athletes use Otto Bock products during the contests. This also applies to Sochi. 26 orthopaedic technicians from eleven countries have travelled to the Black Sea city with around 14 tons of equipment in their luggage. Their objective is to ensure that no athletes are prevented from participating because of defects in their technical aids. According to Rüdiger Herzog of Otto Bock, it is usually athletes from developing countries who arrive with defective equipment. But by applying their skills, the technicians help to create equal opportunities for the competing athletes.
Research for everyday aids
The market for specialized sports products is very small. Most research investment is channelled into the development of aids for everyday life. But the colleagues at Otto Bock are also hoping that the involvement in the Paralympic Games will change the perspectives of people with and without handicaps: by showing them what is technically possible and giving new hope. The company owner Hans Georg Näder says that Otto Bock’s commitment to Paralympic sports “has long since become part of our DNA.”
Paralympic Winter Games from 7 to 16 March 2014 in Sochi
