Ronny Ziesmer turns to facilitate research at Alliance for Hope while preparing for the Paralympics
2003 German champion, Ronny Ziesmer, has recently earned his Bachelor’s degree in biotechnology. Seven years into paralysis, the athlete now redirects his efforts to ‘Alliance for Hope’.
Ziesmer was met with a crippling accident in 2004 while training for the Olympic Games in Beijing. He broke his fifth and sixth vertebrae while practising a Tsukahara double back vault and has been paraplegic since.
Two years later, Ziesmer founded the research organization ‘Alliance for Hope’, currently chaired by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
This October, the former gymnast graduated with an enviable grade-point average of 1.74 (where 1.0 is best and 6.0 is worst) in biotechnology from a university in Senftenberg.
At 32, he stands proud of this latest accomplishment as it leads him closer to his ultimate goal and is an important milestone in his journey to it.
Being a contender of perfection, Ziesmer did not want to rely on his popularity alone to bring attention to the importance of extensive research in paraplegia.
“For me it is most important to be sure the audience will know what I am talking about if I talk,” he said.
The primary objective of the athlete is to raise funds for fuelling research projects in the field of nerve cell regeneration. According to Ziesmer, the research will directly focus on the central nervous system and different injuries of the spinal cord.
The Alliance for Hope has collaborated with the Centre for Neuronal Regeneration (CNR) for the purpose.
The CNR is a global-unique center that defines its aims to be:
“To collect and evaluate world-wide available scientific knowledge on neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic injuries of the central nervous system in order to support and accelerate the efficient development of new therapeutic approaches”.
The Center facilitates patients of these specific diseases and the societies these patients reside in.
No longer able to participate actively in gymnastics, Ziesmer has found other ways into the sport he loves.
He attends local gymnastics competitions and even lit the celebration cauldron in 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. He also works as a co-commentator for Second German Television.
He has also managed to stay in competition, albeit not gymnastics. The former gymnast is now hoping to secure victories in the arena of wheelchair racing. The Paralympics are Ziesmer’s next stop.
With that, the athlete has managed to more than dabble in diverse fields of interest, all in close connection to his existence and adjoined to each other by it.
“So the circle is complete, Bachelor of Science in biotechnology, foundation, CNR, sports and gymnastics,” he said.
Chanting a “life is what you make of it” mantra, Ziesmer is all geared up to contribute his learning as well as augment it by working for Alliance for Hope. At the same time he is training for the 2016 Paralympics.
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