Bayer is one of Germany's biggest sports patrons and sports sponsors. As long as the beginning of the 20th century, Bayer began sponsoring sports clubs in the communities surrounding its production sites in order to help its employees make constructive use of their leisure time. Fast-forwarding to the present day, few companies support such a wide range of sporting activities.
There are many notable landmarks and famous athletes in the history of sports at Bayer. As a result of outstanding achievements and successes on the national and international sporting stage, many individual athletes have become household names. Names of Olympic champions such as Heide Ecker-Rosendahl, Willi Holdorf, Ulrike Meyfarth, Arnd Schmitt, Heike Henkel, Stephan Volkert, Dieter Baumann, Britta Heidemann and many others are closely linked with Bayer.
At the "Paralympics" (the Olympic games for the disabled) participants from Bayer clubs regularly make a major contribution to the achievements of the German team with a large squad. The most successful participants at the Paralympics has been Britta Siegers, Petra Quade, Jörg Frischmann or Kathrin Green and Heinrich Popow.
Athletes wearing the Bayer cross have collected a total of 68 Olympic and 82 Paralympic medals, have won almost 200 World Championship medals and over 100 European Championship titles, and have stood on the winner's podium at German national championships on countless occasions.
