After a Paralympic marathoner was disqualified and lost out on a bronze medalbecause her guide, Mia Carol, suffered a cramp at the finish line, Carol is speaking out against the “injustice” of the situation.
Carol was guiding Spanish runner Elena Congost, who is visually impaired, during the 2024 Paralympics T12 women’s marathon on Sept. 8 in Paris when his leg cramped up at the finish line.
Congost attempted to help her guide, but in doing so, they accidentally dropped the rope connecting them, a violation of the Paralympics rules for visually impaired racers. Despite being just feet from the finish line and a bronze medal, Congost was immediately disqualified.
“On a physical level I am fine, in fact I was already fine two minutes after the race,” Carol said in an interview with Marca. “On a mental level, coming down from the cloud because we are not used to these media issues, but happy after everything seemed so dark.”
Carol said, “Every athlete has had cramps and knows that they are never opportune,” per Marca. “We know that we did what anyone would have done, because in reverse. I would have helped her too. That is normal, not the disqualification or the poor management at the judges’ level.”
“They simply applied the rule instead of thinking about what it was established for, which is for a case in which the guide helps the athlete. One thing is to apply it and another to interpret it,” he added.
Carol said he and Congost are “used to not giving up” and added, “You have to pick yourself up after a hard blow and, if we don’t fight against injustice, then what do we have left?”
On Sept. 9, Marca reported that the Spanish Paralympic Committee is planning to submit a formal request to the International Paralympic Athletics Federation asking for Congost and Carol to be awarded the bronze.
“We are going to try to get that medal recognized,” Spanish Paralympic Committee president Miguel Carballeda said.
After the race, Congost told Marca she was “devastated” by the disqualification. “I’m devastated, to be honest, because I had the medal,” she said. “It was a reflex act of any human, to hold on to a person who is falling next to you.”
“I’m super proud of everything I’ve done and in the end they disqualified me because 10 meters from the finish line because I let the rope go for a second,” Congost continued.
“It’s not for cheating, it’s not for dragging down an athlete. I am left with nothing. I can’t find any explanation for it and it seems so unfair and so surreal, really.”
