Barbara Gross

Barbara Gross (German: Barbara Groß, born 20 November 1993) is a 4.5 point wheelchair basketball player, who played for the German national team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, winning silver. President Joachim Gauck awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf).

For American author, see Barbara Mertz.

Barbara Gross
Barbara Gross at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, Australia, in 2018
Personal information
Nationality Germany
Born (1993-11-20) 20 November 1993
Sport
CountryGermany
SportWheelchair basketball
Disability class4.5
Event(s)Wheelchair Basketball
College teamUniversity of Alabama
TeamRhine River Rhinos Wiesbaden
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals2016 Paralympics 2020 Paralympics
Medal record
Women's wheelchair basketball
Representing  Germany
Paralympic Games
Silver medal – second place2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam competition
IWBF World Championship
Bronze medal – third place2018 Hamburg, GermanyTeam competition

Biography

Barbara Gross was born in Gießen on 20 November 1993.[1][2] She is classified as a 4.5 point wheelchair basketball player.[2] She played for the Under 25 national team at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing in 2015,[3] and then the senior team at the European championships (Worcester).[4]

In 2016,[5] 2017 and 2018, she played for the University of Alabama in the United States. Her 2018 team includes fellow German national players Katharina Lang and Selena Rausch,[4] and Canadian national players Arinn Young and Rosalie Lalonde.[6] The Alabama team won its fifth national collegiate championship in March 2017, with a 57–48 win over the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in a match in which Gross scored 20 points with two assists.[7] In 2018, Alabama came second, losing to UTA 65–55 in the final.[8]

Gross made her Paralympic debut at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, where the German team won silver.[2] President Joachim Gauck awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf) in 2016.[9] In 2018, she was part of the team that won bronze at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg.[2]

In July 2020 she was one of nine paralympic athletes forced into retirement after the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation was forced to align its eligibility criteria with that of the International Paralympic Committee.[10][11]

Gross appealed the decision of eligibility and won the right to compete in further competitions.[12] Gross was selected for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo as a member of the German Women's Team where the team finished fourth.[13]

Achievements
  • 2015: Gold at European championships (Worcester, England)[2]
  • 2016: Silver at the Paralympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)[14][15]
  • 2017: Silver European Championships (Tenerife, Spain)[2]
  • 2018: Bronze at the World Championships (Hamburg, Germany)[2]
  • 2019: Bronze at European Championships (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
  • 2021: 4th at Paralympics (Tokyo, Japan)

References
  1. "Barbara Groß" (in German). Sportschau. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  2. "Barbara Groß" (in German). Deutsche Paralympische Mannschaft. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  3. Team Entry List, U25 World Championship for Women. Beijing: International Wheelchair Basketball Federation. 2015
  4. Aul, Annika (8 December 2017). "Interview mit Babara Groß, Selina Rausch und Katharina Lang: "Am liebsten würden wir dort gleich ein Bett beziehen."". Rollt (in German). Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  5. "Archives – Women's Basketball 2016–2017". Alabama Adapted Athletics. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  6. "Women's Wheelchair Basketball Roster". Alabama Adapted Athletics. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  7. "Alabama women's wheelchair basketball team wins fifth national title". Tuscaloosa News. 11 March 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  8. "Alabama Women Win Second at Nationals". Alabama Adapted Athletics. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  9. "Verleihung des Silbernen Lorbeerblattes" (in German). Der Bundespräsident. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  10. Bradshaw, Aggie (31 July 2020). "Paralympics: Australian wheelchair basketball star Annabelle Lindsay's disability deemed non-eligible under new rules, Tokyo 2021". Wide World of Sports. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  11. "Wheelchair basketball: How disabled do you have to be?". DW. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  12. Houston, Michael (20 December 2020). "German wheelchair basketball player Groß meets IPC classification for Tokyo 2020". Inside the Games. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  13. "Wheelchair Basketball - Gross Barbara". Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 15 September 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  14. "USA clinch women's basketball gold". International Paralympic Committee. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  15. "Paralympic – Wheelchair Basketball Women Germany". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
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