Elena Congost has threatened to go to court if her Olympic medal is not returned

The Paralympic athlete Elena Congost has asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee and the French Ministry of Sports to return her medal. which was removed for meeting an “abnormally strict and strict” standard and the metal was assigned to the fourth class.

The athlete entrusted his defense to the Dupont-Hissel law firm, reported the Belgian jurist Jean-Louis Dupont, lawyer of the “Bosman case”, which changed the quotas for foreigners in world football, and part of the legal team who advised the Super League of soccer.

The Paris Paralympic Games “were marred by an unfortunate decision affecting Ms. Congost and we sincerely hope that it can still be rectified in an amicable way,” said the letter from the lawyers, to which EFE had access.

The letter, sent this Wednesday, to the entities mentioned above, refers to the marathon race in the T12 category where Congost finished third at the finish line, with his guide Mia Carol Bruguera, who crossed the finish line after suffering a cramp in the final meters and stopped the clock in 3:00.48, a personal record.

The athlete was bronzed, but his medal was revoked for letting go of the rope that attached him to his guide a few meters from the finish line. as a reflex action to prevent him from falling, which led to his disqualification, an incident the athlete considered “unfair and surreal.”

“Everyone understands that the rule prohibiting the release of the rope is – in itself – reasonable, because its purpose is fraud. that will allow an athlete to gain a few seconds or a few meters on a competitor who, for his part, will respect the rules. At the same time, however, everyone understands that the situation in this case is completely different,” the letter said.

The attorneys maintain that “there is no fraud, but assistance to someone who may be in danger.”; Letting go of the rope did not save Elena Congost time, but on the contrary, she lost time.”

“As the athlete who finished fourth finished approximately 3 minutes after Elena Congost, the fact that (…) he let go of the rope to help his guide did not harm any other competitor,” they added.

The letter does not constitute a “legal argument,” the lawyers added, because The purpose of the letter was to “appeal to common sense” and the “sense of fairness” of Olympic officials. because “the rule, as applied in this case, is “illegal”, but they demand that the Spanish athlete recover “the bronze medal that he won legitimately and with a lot of effort.”

This procedure “does not mean that the medal should be withdrawn from the athlete who placed fourth,” the judges added, suggesting that both receive a bronze medal.

However, the lawyers outline the reasons why they consider the decision illegal under European law, as Congost would have acted as a “transnational service provider”, protected by article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union , with jurisprudence at the European Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU).

They added that sports bodies can only “interfere” if it is “absolutely necessary and proportionate”. to prevent cheating, but in this case, the application of the rule was not able to “prevent cheating in sports” but instead “created injustice in sports and, therefore, constituted an unreasonable violation of the freedom to give of the services performed by Mrs. Congost.”

It gives you the right to request a “comprehensive correction” to the CJEU and “not necessarily before the arbitration bodies designated by the applicable regulations.”

The lawyers insist that they are confident that judicial means will not need to be explored and that the decision will be rectified, and they are asking for a response by October 20.