 Holger Glinicki was born in Hamburg on 25 October 1952 . He was paralysed following a motorcycle accident in 1972 that broke his fourth thoracic vertebra . He became involved in disability sports , playing wheelchair basketball for RSC Hamburg , who were the German national champions in 1983 , and played a total of 123 international games . He became assistant coach of the German women 's national wheelchair basketball team in 2003 , and then coach in 2006 . The team won five consecutive European championships , in 2003 , 2005 , 2007 , 2009 and 2011 , and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing . 
