The 42-year-old from Leipzig had her right lower leg amputated last year after a wound had become infected with bacteria but now has resumed her athletics career and is aiming for glory in London.

She hopes to compete in the shot put in the F58 category in London because the discus is not part of the programme for that disability class.

Wyludda made a low-key debut when she threw 6.20 metres to finish third in a competition in the United Arab Emirates last month.

"It was important for me to watch above all," she said.

"How do the athletes get around in her wheelchair? 

"The whole competition is a lot different from when I was formerly accustomed to.

"I don't want to make predictions.

"I will train and see what happens."

Wyludda already has happy memories of London.

She won the second of her two World Cup titles at Crystal Palace in 1995.

Wyludda recorded 41 successive wins in the discus between 1989 and 1991 before surprisingly being beaten by Bulgaria's Tsvetanka Khristova at the World Championships in Tokyo.

She then slumped to ninth at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics but redeemed herself four years later in Atlanta by winning the gold medal with a throw of 69.66 metres.


It was the pinnacle of a career that also included winning the European Championships in 1990 and 1994.

Wyludda continued to compete until the Sydney Olympics in 2000 - where she finished seventh - before retiring to concentrate on her medical studies.

Now a qualified anaesthetist, she plans to combine preparing for London 2012 with her job, although she has been offered time off by the hospital in Halle where she also had her leg amputated in January 2010.


Wyludda is working again with Gerhard Boettcher, who coached her when she was the best discus thrower in the world.

"After 20 years of training together each of us knows the quirks of the other," she said. 

"Even though he is now a pensioner I am delighted that he has again taken me under his wing."

Germany is due to pick its team for London 2012 on July 21. 

Just by competing Wyludda would be making history.

"According to our research so far has no German Olympic champion has ever participated in the Paralympics," said Marketa Marzoli, the spokeswoman for the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS). 

"Internationally we know of no case."

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