Paralympic marathon runner stripped of medal after helping guide treat cramp just metres from finish

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A Paralympic marathon runner has been left “devastated” after being disqualified and denied a bronze medal for a mistake just metres from the finish line.

Elena Congost momentarily let go of her rope after her guide, Mia Carol, suffered a cramp at the end of the race on Sunday, the final day of the Paris Games.

The Spaniard broke down in tears after officials ruled she had broken the rules, with the bronze medal going to Japan’s Misato Michishita. Runners in the T12 event for visually impaired athletes must be attached to their guide for the entire race.

“I’m devastated, to be honest, because I had the medal,” said Congost, who was born with a degenerative hereditary eye disease.

“I’m super proud of everything I did and at the end they disqualified me 10 meters from the finish line because I let go of the rope for a second.

“It was a reflex of every human being to hold on to a person who falls next to him. But they say that I let go of the rope for a second and that, as I let go, it’s over, there’s no going back. I don’t understand that.

“It’s not for cheating, it’s not for making an athlete fall. I’m left with nothing. I can’t find any explanation for this and it seems so unfair and so surreal, really.”

Congost, 36, won marathon gold at the Rio Games and silver in the 1,500 metres at London 2012.

Fatima El Idrissi set a world record of 2:48.36 to win gold, ahead of fellow Moroccan Meryem En-Nourhi who took silver. El Idrissi beat Michishita’s previous record in Hofu City in December 2020 by almost six minutes.

“I wasn’t running for a time, I was just running for a medal,” El Idrssi said. “I wasn’t looking to break the world record, I was just looking to get gold, and now I have both.”