In 0.8 seconds, Frank-Michael Wahl’s life changed completely. For 0.8 seconds, a clot blocked the blood flow to his brain. The result: a stroke. From one moment to the next, the former handball star had to come to terms with the fact that his body—his former athletic asset—no longer obeyed him.
“How quickly a second usually goes by. 0.8 seconds—then the clot was gone. But that was enough,” Wahl told the German Press Agency. “For me, this is a story I can’t really wrap my head around.”
In the hospital, he told the professor: “You’re the boss, so it’s your job to make sure I’m back home tomorrow.” The doctor replied, “Mr. Wahl, the most important thing you need is patience. Your body needs to recover.”
That was on August 30, 2023, six days after his 67th birthday. It wasn’t until half a year later that he returned home. Now Wahl, one of Germany’s greatest handball players, will turn 70 next Monday (August 24).
Wahl is still an imposing figure. When the Rostock native stands in the doorway of his home in Hessisch Oldendorf, he almost fills the space. Over 1.90 meters tall, broad-shouldered, with a firm handshake as a greeting. And yet, the effects of the stroke are visible in his left arm and leg.
But Wahl is not one to resign himself to his fate. You won’t hear him complain or express bitterness. “Be grateful for every day. Make the most of it; do what you enjoy. Because—to put it dramatically—it can all be over in a flash,” he says. He says he didn’t used to think about it that way. Now he’s grateful “that I wake up in the morning and am healthy,” he says, adding after a pause: “As healthy as can be.”
Competitive sports helped him not only physically after his stroke. He was already ambitious as a handball player and often trained more than others. He still does that today. While other patients in rehab spent two minutes on the treadmill, he trained for 40 minutes. Even today, he still trains every day. He takes his partner’s dog, Nika, for walks several times a day, lifts dumbbells, goes up and down the stairs, and does squats.
When you see Wahl in front of you, you get a sense of how intimidating it was for defenders and goalkeepers when Wahl ran toward them, prepared for a jump shot or a push shot, and hurled the ball toward the goal with the raw power of his right arm. Traveling at speeds of up to 136 kilometers per hour—as was once measured—the ball raced toward the goalkeepers. He was a player for whom the term “power” seemed tailor-made.
“Potti was an outstanding player with a magnificent career,” says current German national team coach Alfred Gislason. “I played against him quite often in the 1980s. What he showed on the court was absolutely world-class—and, as a result, rarely a pleasant experience for us Icelanders.”»
After his swimming career as a teenager—which included a title as GDR youth champion—he switched to handball. He was 16 years old at the time. Because he came from swimming and because of his last name—even though it was misspelled—he was given the nickname “Potti” at SC Empor Rostock, a play on the word “sperm whale.”
Seven years later, he won gold with the GDR national team in the final against the Soviet Union—which was considered unbeatable—at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, an event boycotted by the West. He contributed five goals to that victory. And quite a few people believe he was instrumental in the GDR’s handball successes.
To this day, Wahl holds the German record for most national team appearances with 344, 313 for the GDR and 31 for reunified Germany after 1990. His total of 1,412 international goals remains unmatched. He played for Empor Rostock for 17 years before manager Dieter Teraske lured him to the second-division club SG Hameln following the political upheaval of 1990.
Thanks to GDR-backed talent development—in addition to Wahl and goalkeeper Wieland Schmidt, other players had come from East Germany—the provincial club was promoted and remained in the Bundesliga for several years. Wahl ended his professional career in 1993. Prior to that, he had played for the unified German team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. However, due to a shoulder injury, he never again reached the level of performance he had shown in earlier days.
After retiring, he remained in the area, holding various positions at SG Hameln, including serving as assistant coach to Gislason, who is now the national team coach. In addition to his work for a building society, Wahl also coached several teams in the region.
Wahl’s achievements were not adequately recognized in reunified Germany. For instance, the German Sports Hall of Fame features West German handball players Bernhard Kempa, Heiner Brand, Joachim Deckarm, and Erhard Wunderlich, as well as GDR handball player Kristina Richter. Players from the Olympic champion team led by goalkeeper Wieland Schmidt and Wahl are missing.
He’s happy for everyone who was inducted. He even played against the 1978 world champions Brand, Deckarm, and Wunderlich himself. They deserved it, Wahl emphasizes. “But then they should have also included, for example, Wieland Schmidt or maybe even Frank Wahl,” he says. He would have been happy about that. “Today I say: Well, if those in charge don’t want that or don’t want to see it, then so be it.”
For him, other things are important now anyway. He wants to keep working on himself and his body. “I’m really glad that I’m back where I am and can move around so well,” says Wahl. “I have to wait. I can’t set a specific date for myself.”
But he does have another date firmly marked on his calendar: On Monday, the father of two and grandfather of three will celebrate his 70th birthday with his closest family. Five days later, the second part of the celebration will take place. That’s when siblings and friends will join the party.
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