When Elena Congost Mohedano, a blind marathon runner, crossed the finish line in Paris last month, the Spaniard thought that she had completed the set of Paralympic medals with a bronze at the age of 37.
Her delight turned to anguish, however, after she was disqualified for letting go of the tether to her guide when stopping to help him overcome a bout of cramp in the closing stages of the race in the French capital.
Now, after her appeals through official channels received short shrift, Congost has enlisted the services of arguably the most influential sports lawyer around, Jean-Louis Dupont, to take her fight to higher legal powers.
“It is with great regret that Elena Congost will now have to assert her rights through the courts,” Dupont said. “We are now going to devote ourselves to preparing this legal action, which will be brought before a judge with territorial and material jurisdiction.”
Dupont is best known for winning the 1995 Bosman Ruling, a decision in the European courts which forced football to change its transfer system by doing away with fees for players who are out of contract.
The Belgian has also been prominent in cases brought against governing body Uefa over its Financial Fair Play rules and, later, its punishment of clubs which sought to join the failed European Super League breakaway.
Earlier this month Dupont achieved another landmark EU ruling in football when representing former Chelsea, Arsenal and France midfielder Lassana Diarra, which Fifa has admitted will force it to change its international transfer regulations.
And he has been engaged by global players union Fifpro and leading domestic leagues in their legal battle with Fifa over changes to the global calendar, including the new Club World Cup, over which they say they were not consulted.
He will take Congost’s case to the courts after revealing that her pleas to the International Paralympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, World Para-Athletics, the Games organising committee and the French minister for sport were all but ignored.
“Elena Congost had asked the recipients of her letter to respond by October 20, 2024 at the latest,” Dupont added. “The IOC gave it a perfunctory response, claiming that it was ‘incompetent’ to deal with the matter. The other organisations did not even deign to reply.”
Congost, who won T12 marathon gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympics and silver in the T12 1,500m at London 2012, has vowed to take her medal back to Paris and be pictured by the Eiffel Tower if she wins the legal fight.
The IPC has said that the disqualification was a matter for World Para-Athletics as it was done under its rules. World Para-Athletics had not commented at the time of writing. The Paralympic Games may be over but Congost’s race is not run yet.