Tires, inner tubes, wheelchair cushions, boxes full of ball bearings, carbon blades in quantity… More than 15,000 spare parts – or 23 tons of material – are lined up on the racks of the repair center that Ottobock opened on August 18 in the heart of the Paralympic Games athletes’ village. Here, in more than 700 square meters, the German specialist in orthopedic technology mobilizes some 160 technicians (welders, seamstresses, etc.) and medical experts, speaking 27 languages and who take turns every day from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. to repair defective equipment free of charge.
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We are far from the Seoul Games in 1988, when Ottobock, a family business created in 1919 in Germany to equip war disabled people, sent four technicians with a simple tent as a workshop. Since then, the partnership with the International Paralympic Committee has continued to strengthen with each edition – summer and winter – and extends to the Brisbane Games (Australia) in 2032.
Even before the start of the competitions in Paris, the teams of technicians had carried out more than 1,000 repairs in ten days, almost 40% of the total volume handled in Tokyo in 2021. At the height of the Games, Ottobock is counting on 250 to 300 repairs per day. “Around 80% are for everyday wheelchairs”says Bertrand Azori, orthotist and technical director of the workshop. Tires that need to be reinflated, a seat cushion that needs to be changed, padding or a strap that needs to be sewn back on, a structure that needs to be hastily re-welded…
“Accident-prone” disciplines
Technicians can also replace athletes’ running blades, or even foot or knee prostheses, in which more and more connected components are integrated. In an innovation compared to Tokyo, Ottobock specialists have a 3D printer in Paris. It allows them to manufacture on site, after scanning the athlete’s stump, a socket in record time (between four and seven hours depending on the model).
Unsurprisingly, given the brutality of the contact between players, the disciplines that experience the most damage are wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball, explains Bertrand Azori. Ottobock specialists are also sent every day to around fifteen sites whose disciplines are the most “accident-prone”. The chairs on which competitors are strapped to throw shot put, javelin, discus and club are also subject to numerous repairs.
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