but Germany was beaten in the gold medal game by the United States team, taking home Paralympic silver medals instead. After the Paralympics, the team's performance was considered impressive enough for it to be named the national "Team of the Year", and it received the Silver Laurel Leaf, Germany's highest sporting honour, from German President Horst Köhler. The German team hoped for a rematch against the United States at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, but instead faced the team that had beaten the Americans, the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team. They defeated the Australians in front of a crowd of over 12,000 to win the gold medal, Gesche Schünemann the first time that Germany had won in women's wheelchair basketball at the Paralympics since 1984. They were awarded a second Silver Laurel Leaf by President Joachim Gauck in November 2012, and were again named Team of the Year for 2012. After the Paralympics, Schünemann was required to rest for three months after surgery to repair the damaged tendons of the little right finger, but returned for the European Championships in 2013, which Germany lost to the Netherlands. In 2014, she won silver at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto, where the German team was defeated by Canada in the final. The German team beat the Netherlands in the 2015 European Championships, to claim its tenth European title. At the 2016 Paralympic Games, it won silver after losing the final to the United States. She retired from wheelchair basketball in 2016 and from the national team in 2018. Achievements 2007: Gold European Championships (Wetzlar, Germany) 2008: Silver Paralympic Games (Beijing, China) 2009: Gold European Championships (Stoke Mandeville, England) 2010: Silver World Championships (Birmingham, England) 2011: Gold European Championships (Nazareth, Israel) 2012: Gold Paralympic Games (London, England) 2013: Silver European Championships (Frankfurt, Germany) 2014: Silver at the World Championships (Toronto, Canada) 2015: Gold at the European Championships (Worcester, England) 2016: Silver at the Paralympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Awards 2008: Team of the Year 2008: Silver Laurel Leaf 2012: Team of the Year 2012: Silver Laurel Leaf References External links 1982 births Living people German women's wheelchair basketball players Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of Germany Paralympic gold medalists for Germany Paralympic silver medalists for Germany Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics