Paralympic champion Franziska Liebhardt dies at 44 after years of fighting for organ donation

German Paralympic champion Franziska Liebhardt has died at the age of 44. She was an athlete with an extraordinary life story, and she used her success to speak up for organ donation.

What happened?

The German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) and the association Kinderhilfe Organtransplantation – Sportler für Organspende (KiO) announced her death. Liebhardt had chaired KiO as a volunteer.

In spring 2026, another serious illness was added to her long medical history. She died from its consequences.

A life shaped by transplants

Liebhardt was born in Berlin. In 2005, aged 23, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. It caused, among other things, spastic paralysis, and she needed both a new lung and a kidney transplant.

In 2019, her transplanted lung failed chronically, so she had to wait for a donor lung again. During the coronavirus pandemic she spent seven months on the waiting list before receiving a new lung in 2020.

Gold in Rio, then a new mission

In 2016, at the Paralympic Games in Rio, Liebhardt won gold in the shot put and silver in the long jump, competing with a donated lung and a donated kidney. She kept using her sporting success to draw attention to organ donation.

After her career ended, she became chair of KiO in 2024.

How she is remembered

The DBS mourns "a great athlete and a wonderful person" and called her a "fighter, in sport and in everyday life". KiO said she "seemingly could move mountains". It described her as a role model, a hard worker and a "perfect team player".

According to KiO, her empathy and humility shaped its work in a deeply moving field.