A Paralympic athlete denied a medal in Paris because she stopped to help her guide is taking her case to court.
Spanish marathon runner Elena Congost finished third in the race on September 8 but was later disqualified because she accidentally let go of the tether to her guide, Mia Carol, as she tried to help him after he developed cramp in the final stages.
Congost, who is partially sighted and runs in the T12 category, crossed the line in 3hrs 0.48secs to seemingly secure a podium finish behind Moroccan pair Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi and Meryem En-Nourhi.
The race rules state the tether must not be released by either the athlete or the guide between the race starting and finishing.
Japan’s Misato Michishita, whose world record was broken by El Idrissi in the race, was upgraded to third place.
Lawyers acting for Congost, who was born with a visual impairment, sent a request to the International Paralympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, World Para-Athletics, the Games organising committee and the French minister for sport on September 25 seeking to be awarded the bronze medal.
“Elena Congost had asked the recipients of her letter to respond by October 20, 2024 at the latest,” her legal representative Jean-Louis Dupont said.
“The IOC gave it a perfunctory response, claiming that it was ‘incompetent’ to deal with the matter. The other organisations did not even deign to reply.
“It is with great regret that Elena Congost will now have to assert her rights through the courts.
“We are now going to devote ourselves to preparing this legal action, which will be brought before a judge with territorial and material jurisdiction.”
“I would like everyone to know that I have not been disqualified for cheating, but rather I have been disqualified for being a person and for an instinct that comes to you when someone is falling and is to help or support them,” Congost, who claimed gold in Rio in 2016, told Marca at the time.
“I’m devastated, to be honest, because I had the medal. I’m super proud of everything I’ve done and in the end they disqualify me because 10 metres from the finish line I let go of the rope for a second because a person next to me fell face first to the ground and I grabbed the rope again and we crossed the finish line.
“The next athlete is three minutes away from me, so it was a reflex action of any human being to hold on to a person who is falling next to you.”
The IPC said the disqualification was a matter for World Para-Athletics as it was done under its rules.
World Para-Athletics has been contacted for comment.
Congost has said, if she were awarded the medal, she would go back to Paris to take a picture of it with the Eiffel Tower.
