Spain’s Paralympic marathon athlete disqualified after breaking rule
2 min read
The Spanish athlete Elena Congost has been disqualified for breaking a rule just two metres before the finish line in the women’s T12 marathon.
Congost at the age of 36, suffered from a degenerative vision impairment after helping Mia Carol-Bruguera.
Congost was dismissed after let go of the rope which she and her guide were sharing and that is not allowed by Paralympic rules. Congost let go in order to help Brugera who was suffering with cramp.
Rules state that runners in the T12 marathon must be connected to their guide using rope at all times and that afforded Japanese athlete Misato Michishita to claim bronze medal after being fourth to cross the line.
Fatima El Idrissi from Morocco claimed gold after setting a world record time of 2:48.36 and her fellow country runner Meryem En-Nourhi won silver.
During the interview the Spanish runner claimed that she is not happy with the decision that has been made by the Organization.
Congost said “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.
“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.”
On the hand her guider Carol-Bruguera expressed his dissatisfaction on his Instagram and thanked Ellen for commitment they had through out the competition.
Carol-Bruguera wrote “Right now, too many emotions and too many messages. I can only say that I am given an image of total commitment to each other. And of course, THANK YOU ELENA.”
The competition wrapped up on Sunday evening where Great Britain (GB) occupied second spot in terms of medals table. Great Britain accumulated a total number of 124 medals (49 gold, 44 silver and 31 bronze).
China occupied first spot with a total of 220 medals (94 gold, 76 silver and 50 bronze) collected more than Great Britain during the 11 days competition. The United States were third while Netherlands on fourth then Brazil on fifth and Italy on sixth.
BY LUCKY SEANEGO
