Long Jumper.  Sprinter.  World Record Holder.  Wakeboarder.  Prosthetist.  4-Time Paralympic Champion.

In 2003, at age 14, after a wakeboarding accident, Markus Rehm had his right leg amputated below the knee.  This dealt an extremely harsh blow to the athletic teenager accustomed to physical activity and competition in his native Germany.  The first few months were difficult, both physically and mentally.  Until Markus thought about his bicycle.  What would it be like to ride it again?  A successful trip around the neighborhood was enough to inspire a new way of thinking.

“That's when ambition seized me.  I wanted to know what else I was capable of despite the prosthesis.”

A chance meeting with German paralympian sprinter Heinrich Popow led to an invitation to attend a Paralympic event in Leverkusen.  Markus was impressed and inspired.  He was granted a sports prosthesis, and since then, has set the long jump record for para-athletes. 

Known today as ‘The Blade Jumper,” Markus is wearing Össur’s latest prosthetic innovation, the Cheetah Xpanse foot while pursuing the able-bodied world record.  His jump of 8.62 meters, in Berlin, would rank third on the list of 2019 performances by able-bodied jumpers.

Update June 2023: Markus broke his Long Jump world record with a fantastic jump of 8.72 meters.

"I don't want to have a limit in my mind.”