1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Dreamchaser - Overcoming boundaries

March 2, 2022

They are top athletes. But a single flight of stairs can be a challenge. This documentary follows two elite competitors as they embark on a journey to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

https://p.dw.com/p/43hPz

Paraplegic racing wheelchair racer Alhassane Baldé and blind judoka Shugaa Nashwan are the two athletes portrayed in this film. Both grew up in Germany. Alhassane is training in the hopes of competing in his fourth Paralympics, while for Shugaa, Tokyo would be his first Paralympic Games. But before Shugaa's "lifelong dream" can come true, the judoka faces an additional challenge: On a trip to war-torn Yemen, he witnesses first-hand the humanitarian catastrophe in his war-torn homeland. Wheelchair racer Alhassane has not been back to his native Guinea for 17 years, where he nearly lost his life at birth. The paraplegic child grew up in Germany with adoptive parents. "If I had stayed in Guinea, I wouldn't have lived to be five," says the 35-year-old. After many months of training and preparation, what happens to these two athletes’ dreams to reach Tokyo? How do they cope with success and failure, after having struggled and achieved so much?

Skip next section About the show

About the show

DW DocFilm Sendungslogo Composite

DocFilm

Exciting stories, a wide variety of topics, fascinating pictures: every day, half or three-quarters of an hour of carefully researched background reports from the worlds of politics, business, science, culture, nature, history, lifestyle and sport.