The Spanish athlete Elena Congostthat’s it received the Special Award for Sports Values from the María de Villota Awards, states that this ‘non-medal’, when referring to his disqualified from the last Paralympic Games in Paris for letting go of the rope that attached him to his guide, “made Paralympic sport and athletics famous.”
“This ‘non-medal’ has brought many opportunities and recognition to Paralympic sport and athletics. This ‘non-medal’ has more value than the medals I actually won” declared in “Legado María de Villota”.
Despite his bad experience in Paris, The athlete admitted that the Special Jury Award for Sports Values is an “injection of joy and positivity”: “After the difficult moment I experienced in Paris, where you have a bad feeling, with the feeling of failing yourself and everyone, such an important award is always an injection of joy and positivity.”
About difference of effect that the two medals he had and the last one he did not achieve noted: “In 2012 and 2016 I won medals and there was no impact. This ‘non-medal’ brought many opportunities and recognition to Paralympic sport and athletics. This ‘no medal’ has more value than of the medals I won really. It’s being very good and positive for me as an athlete and for the Paralympic and women’s sport opened.
Congost thinks what happened to him last summer was something like that “It’s more than sport”: “I wish I could change some things and no one would find themselves in our situation. This is more than sport: it goes beyond a system of values and there are things that need to be changed.”
About the Los Angeles Games, where he will compete at the age of 41, he said: “We changed the guide. We decided with the team that he is a young professional athlete, with a lot of projection compared to me. It is also a shot of energy and motivation. His name is Roger Sans. We received it with great enthusiasm. Training with a large family with children is more tiring, but it gives you more energy because your children see your values. You can send them to them. We will do two marathons a year, although this one will be quieter. The hope with which you wake up every day is to fight for a podium. “I don’t want ‘no medals’ anymore”
Source: La Verdad
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