Tarek Rasouli
Tarek Rasouli (* 1974) is a former German BMX and mountain bike professional freerider. He has been a paraplegic since an accident in 2002. Today he is the managing director of his sports marketing and communications agency Rasoulution in Munich. Rasouli is considered a "legend among mountain bikers"[1] and was "one of the most famous mountain bikers".[2]
Life
Tarek Rasouli grew up in Munich. He started riding BMX bikes in 1983 at the age of nine. In the early 1990s, he joined the "University of BMX" training camp, where he trained in the U.S.[3] After finishing school, he went back to the U.S. to compete. Around 1994, he switched from BMX bikes to mountain bikes (MTB). Rasouli won the Munich City Championship, the Württemberg Cup,and became Bavarian and German Champion on his BMX bike. Together with his friend Igor Obu, he performed in shows where they jumped over 24 people or a height of 1.07 metres.
Rasouli has been photographed as a model for advertisements, catalogs, and calendars. He has also been featured as the cover rider for multiple international bike magazines.[4]
In the Canadian town of Sun Peaks, a mishap[4][5] occurred on 23 July 2002 during filming for the movie Kranked 5: After jumping 17 meters, Rasouli realized he had jumped too far. He let go of his bike and landed on his feet from a height of six meters, breaking his first lumbar vertebra. He has been a paraplegic ever since.[6]
After an intensive rehabilitation phase, Tarek started writing scene columns for magazines and was asked to organize an event. With the motivation to get fresh faces and people excited about bike events, Tarek chose a location near Constance on Lake Constance and focused on good vibes and a party atmosphere. "Ride to the Lake" later was a huge success and would eventually become Red Bull District Ride, a legendary bike spectacle in front of tens of thousands of spectators, most recently held in Nuremberg's old town, for instance.[5]
This was the foundation for Rasoulution, an internationally active sports marketing and communications agency based in Munich. As an athlete manager, Tarek has discovered many of today's biggest stars, such as Fabio Wibmer, Danny MacAskill, Erik Fedko, and Emil Johansson. He still manages many of them.[5]
Since 2005, Rasouli has been an ambassador for the Wings for Life Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for paraplegia.[5] He is also a co-founder and board member of the FMBA (Freeride Mountain Bike Association).[6]
In 2022, Tarek Rasouli was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and thus belongs to the select circle of the sport's all-time greats. He is only the fifth German to be inducted into the hallowed halls of the Marin Museum of Bicycling in Fairfax, California.[7][8]
References
- ↑ "Tarek Rasouli: "Immer höher, immer weiter!"". egofm.de. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ↑ Buchwald, Sabine (5 October 2012). "Davor und danach : Tarek Rasouli war einer der bekanntesten Mountainbiker der Welt, stand oft vor der Kamera. Vor zehn Jahren verunglückte er und ist seither querschnittsgelähmt. Doch der Bike-Sport bestimmt noch immer sein Leben". Süddeutsche Zeitung.
- ↑ Wissink, Jos (August 2006). "2006, Tarek Rasouli". universityofbmx.com. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jessner, Werner (29 April 2021). "Tarek Rasouli is Europe's Most Influential Bike Manager". redbull.com. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Frorider suffers spinal injury". bikemagic.com. 29 July 2002. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Fünf Wildcards für Red Bull District Ride 2011". freeride-magazine.com. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ↑ Haas, Dennis (13 October 2022). "Tarek Rasouli in der Hall of Fame. Aufnahme in die heiligen Hallen des MTB". mtb-news.de. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
- ↑ Buslain, Alexandre (20 October 2022). "Derrière les meilleurs cyclistes du monde, dont le Belge Thomas Genon ; Rencontre avec Tarek Rasouli". lalibre.be. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
External links
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