City of Hanau | presse-service.de

Reporting date: December 12, 2024

Special Olympics State Games 2025 in Hanau

“Annika Wein is characterized by a desire for sport, joy of life and courage to face life, which is why I asked her if she would like to be our face at the 2025 Special Olympics State Games in Hanau. And she immediately agreed,” says Mayor Dr. Maximilian Bieri: “The 15-year-old hockey player from the 1st Hanau THC is the encouraging figurehead for the connection between inclusion and sport.”

Around 700 athletes and their support teams are expected in the Brothers Grimm City from June 23rd to 26th, 2025. The Special Olympics State Games, Hesse’s largest sporting event for people with intellectual and multiple disabilities, have sports facilities spread across the city. The program includes competitions in the sports of badminton, basketball, hockey, football, boules, judo, powerlifting (as a demo sport), athletics, swimming, tennis and table tennis. It is also being checked whether golf and horse riding plus vaulting will also be included. Sports and entertainment are offered on the market square and Freiheitsplatz as well as in the Main-Kinzig-Halle and in the Heinrich-Fischer-Bad. Other sports facilities include the Wilhelmsbader Hof, the Golf Club, the grounds of the 1st Hanau Tennis and Hockey Club and the Herbert Dröse Stadium.

Annika Wein was diagnosed with bone cancer when she was eleven years old. The right lower leg including the knee joint had to be amputated and tumors had to be removed from the lungs. “The teenager and her family never gave up, that really impresses me,” said Mayor Dr. Bieri. Annika Wein has been playing hockey again since 2022. With a prosthetic leg. “She is open about her story and encourages others,” says Dr. Bieri. Newspapers report on her, she can be seen in TV reports such as the ZDF report “37 Grad” and on “Aktion Mensch”, and the Hanauer Anzeiger awarded her the “Hanauer Honorary Prize 2023” in the athlete election.

The patron of next year’s games is Diana Stolz, Hessian Minister for Family, Senior Citizens, Sport, Health and Care. In addition to Annika Wein, there are three other “faces of the games”: Daniela Milia and André Reiniger from the Main-Kinzig Disabled Workers’ Association, BWMK, as well as the former basketball player and official Martin Schenk, who cares intensively about sport and inclusion.

“I am very pleased that you have chosen me to be the face of the games and I really enjoy doing it,” said Annika Wein to Mayor Dr. Bieri, who invited her to the town hall. As an external sign of her connection to the upcoming event, she wore the official T-shirt of the Special Olympics State Games 2025. Her question about what her tasks as “face of the games” are was answered by her mayor, Dr. Bieri says: “Share your story with others and be part of as many events as possible.”

Further information: Special Olympics Landesspiele 2025

Press contact: Dominik Kuhn, Telephone 06181 / 18000-820