Elena Congost has taken a new step and does not intend to sit idly by. The Spanish Paralympic athlete directly points to her coach as the first culprit, as well as the judge of the Spanish team, for the fact that today she cannot hang around her neck the bronze medal she won in the marathon category T12 of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
According to Elena Congost’s statements to OKDIARIO, they kept it “secret” that they had “voluntarily” decided “not to present a claim” to the trial judge at that “moment” after he told them that There was “nothing to do”. This decision, in the eyes of World Athleticsmeans that she also accepted, which therefore constitutes a solid reason not to attribute the metal to the Castelldefels
This Thursday, Elena Congost received a new blow from the hands of International Federation of Paralympic athletics in the fight for her bronze medal, obtained completely legally at the Paralympic Games on September 9, when she was disqualified for having let go of her rope guide, Mia Caroleto help him when he suffered from severe cramps.
He Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) confirmed that the organization had informed the visually impaired athlete that it was not accepting her request to obtain a bronze medal on an exceptional basis. Now she and her lawyer, Jean-Louis Dupontknown throughout the world as the defender of Bosman affairthey study the legal route and the steps to take, even if she believes that he should not have gone to court.
Elena Congost and the truth about what happened in Paris
Elena Congost, who knew “what the answer would be” and that is why she did not “read” the “press release” that “the CPE gave her”. His anger is already immense and he is waiting to see how Dupont’s appeal to the European justicethe athlete can no longer contain what happened that day in the capital of Francea fact they tried to hide from him. “There was a mistake, I don’t know if it was on purpose or not,” he begins to say.
“At the time I was disqualified, the president of the Paralympic Committee, Miguel Carballedaorders that a claim be made. It’s your obligation. Well, my coach, accompanied by the judge of the Spanish team, goes to speak to the judge of the test and he tells him that there is nothing to do. Since you tell them this, they voluntarily decide not to file a claim. The fact that this person didn’t present it at that time means you agree (referring to themselves). Well, that’s one of the reasons why World Athletics isn’t giving me the medal,” he said.
“The athletics coach should have done it and he didn’t,” he insists. The ins and outs of this shocking decision are suspicious to say the least: “I learned this news several days later. Miguel Carballeda was told this by strangers and asked me to be careful with this information. Now I’m not going to be careful with any information because I’m very angry and I feel ignored.
If the personal relationship with the recruiter of the visually impaired was not already “very good”, all that was missing was “that”. “Filing a complaint costs 100 euros, the country pays it, it doesn’t pay it out of its own pocket, the Spanish delegation pays it and they didn’t want it. I’ve seen complaints filed for disqualifications for things that made sense and were nothing to complain about. And in this case, since the judge tells them that there is nothing to do, he decides not to file a complaint. In addition, they keep it secret,” reveals Elena Congost to this newspaper.
Carballeda didn’t tell him until he knew he was going to appeal for the medal
The athlete recounts his reaction after the test and how his coach, abusing his disability, refused him a visit to the test judge to claim his medal: “This coach, when he came out to speak to the judge, found me crying and I tell him ‘I want to go talk to the judge’ and he answers me: ‘No, Elena, there’s nothing to do if you want I’ll hug you, she’s the only one. thing we can do. And I repeat that I want to go talk to the judge, and he said, ‘No, no, he’s already gone.’ You’re not going to go in and talk to anyone now Well, this is the person who decided not to file a claim.
Miguel Carballeda didn’t tell her until she approached him herself to tell him that she had personally and privately hired Dupont as her attorney and that they were going to file a complaint on her behalf with of the Paralympic Committee. At that time, he revealed to her what had happened on September 9 in Paris and asked her to be careful with this information, something Elena Congost could no longer keep quiet about. “When I thought it was appropriate to make it public, I did,” he says. His time has come and the cards are already on the table in the eyes of Justice, which could receive in the coming days a complaint from the Catalan athlete against his coach.
