Hopes are high with the German Paralympic Team which has just arrived in China these last few days and is looking forward to tonight's opening of the 2008 Paralympic Games.

Among the 170 athletes and 110 staff are many first-time visitors to China and to Beijing. Excitement pairs with joy for all of them: "We are especially looking forward to this year's Summer Games to meet friends from all continents and to simply enjoy many happy moments," the German team's Chief of Mission Karl Quade said upon arrival.

Previous successes during the 2004 Athens Paralympics with gold medals in swimming, discus, javelin and table tennis raise hopes for the 2008 Games.

Many German athletes hope to excel in China - all of them are dedicated to sports and determined to overcome obstacles in their lives.

Swimmer Kirsten Bruhn was already competing at the age of 10 when a motorcycle accident rendered her paraplegic in 2001. Only a year later she picked up competitive swimming again and ever since has set world records. She earned a gold medal in the 100-m breaststroke at the Athens Paralympics and succeeded at the Durban World Championships in South Africa in 2006 winning two gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze.

Wojtek Czyz, representing Germany in athletics, is striving to repeat his victory at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, where he won three gold medals in 100 and 200-m running and in long jump. Czyz had been aspiring a career as a football player when he lost his lower left leg in 2001 after an injury to his knee caused by an opponent player.

Thomas Ulbricht was diagnosed with dystrophia at the age of eight causing him to be visually impaired. He still became an exceptional athlete participating in the 2004 Paralympics in modern pentathlon and won the World Championship in 2006.

Considering the willpower and ability to inspire it takes for Paralympic athletes it is no wonder that top politicians uniformly praise sports as a means to bring people together.

"Most barriers between people are based on a lack of knowledge and insecurity in how to deal with each other," German Chancellor Angela Merkel remarked during the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. "Athletes with disabilities and their extraordinary performances empower others to actively shape their lives."

Germany's Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schaeuble pointed out during his recent visit to the Olympics that athletes are role models for young people - even more so if they had to overcome personal obstacles to succeed.

Paralympic sports have a long tradition in Germany, tracing their roots to the 1950s when DBS, the German Association of Sports for People with Disabilities, was founded - one of the first such associations worldwide.

DBS has been active promoting sports as a means to rehabilitate and integrate people with disabilities. It incorporates hundreds of "freelance" local clubs and some 400,000 members supporting people with disabilities to find their way into competitive sports or to just enjoy being active. Germany's effort to promote Paralympic sports has also been one of the reasons why Bonn, the country's former capital, was chosen to host the International Paralympic Committee's world headquarters.