Disqualified during the Paris Paralympic marathon in September, visually impaired athlete Elena Congost from Spain has taken legal action in France to recover her bronze medal and her pride.
On 8 September, Spanish marathon runner Elena Congost was disqualified for having let go the rope which connected her to her guide, just two meters from the finish line.
The 37-year-old had been running alongside her guide, Mia Carol, as required by Paralympic rules, which state that visually impaired athletes in the T12 category must remain tethered to their guides throughout the race.
Unfortunately, in the final stretch, Congost briefly let go of the rope to assist Carol, who was struggling with cramps – a gesture that led to her disqualification.
Although Congost finished third with a personal best of 3:00:48, it could not be counted.
The bronze medal was finally awarded to the Japanese Misato Michishita, arriving more than three minutes after the Rio 2016 Paralympic champion.
Morocco's Fatima El Idrissi set a world record of 2:48.36 to win the gold medal and compatriot Meryem En-Nourhi finished second.
"It’s unfair, surreal. The next athlete was three minutes behind me. It was just a reflex action that any human being would have done – holding on to someone who is falling," Congost said the time.
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"I have not been disqualified for cheating, but for being a person, for helping someone."
At the end of October, the Spanish Paralympic Committee made a request to grant a second bronze medal - without taking one away from Michishita, pleading assistance to a person "potentially in danger" during the race.
Despite recognising the "positive values of solidarity and sportsmanship demonstrated by Elena Congost," the World Para-athletics Federation still rejected the appeal.
In a move of support for Congost, the Spanish Paralympic Committee granted her an exceptional scholarship, equivalent to the one she would have received for being awarded the bronze in the Paris Paralympic marathon.
The financial aid amounts to €2,050 per month, allocated to both the athlete and her guide and a further €900 to her coach.
This will remain intact until the approval of the 2025 scholarship plan, due to be established during the beginning of next year.
However, Congost's French lawyer, Emmanuel Daoud said that the runner and her guide, Mia Carol Bruguera, had chosen to file a legal complaint on Tuesday against the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) before the Paris judicial court.
The athletes wish "to obtain compensation for the damage suffered and therefore in particular the granting of the promised bronze medal," Daoud wrote in a press release sent to public French media franceinfo.
(With newswires)
