On his way to the Olympic podium, Emmanuel Karalis overcame racism, depression and Greek darkness
Documento readers met Emmanuel Karalis for the first time in January 2019. The sprinter with the springing talent and the springing smile was then only 18 years old and proudly wore his first medal: 5th in the World Indoor Championships. Men, not teenagers. “I’m the happiest teenager in the world,” he wrote after the match on Twitter.
Inside him, however, he hid heavy sorrow. “Should I tell you what has crushed me in recent months? That last year I missed my school’s five-day field trip, but also the carnival. All my classmates were leaving in a caravan for Patras, but I stayed behind because I had training. It was my choice, of course, because I wanted to be 110 percent ready for the big race in Birmingham. But no matter what, it hurt.”
Put on the mask of war
A few months later, Karalis put on the mask of war and launched an all-out attack. His complaint to SEGAS against coach Dimitris Kyteas for racist behavior was not the first, but the second. In 2017, his mother submitted a memorandum to… deaf ears, but now the little one had grown up, he was an elite athlete and his words had a different weight. According to the claims of Karalis and the affidavits of four of his fellow athletes (Voula Papachristou et al.), the bullying was continuous and intolerable. “Don’t talk to the black man, he and his family are voodooing us.” “They have sex orgies with his father and take videos.” “Black people are dumb and uneducated.” And many more like that.
Kyteas (coach of Karalis’s direct competitor Kostas Filippidis) was ostracized by SEGAS for a year and punished by the Fan Spirit Committee. His sentence was considered by public opinion and many media as a “caress” as it had a suspensive nature: 18 months of disqualification. “I appreciate and respect the athlete” Kyteas asserted unflinchingly in his apology.
Karalis has experienced racist attitudes since he was young. “There was a group of kids at school who constantly teased me and my sister. We were saddened on a bench, crying and wondering why this is happening.” Emmanuel’s twin sister was the one who came forward and cleaned up in difficult times. A reserved and timid child, he swallowed the insults without speaking. The Karalis family grew up in poverty and everyday life turned into a struggle. “Many times we took the plastic cutlery from the cafeteria because we didn’t have our own at home,” recalls the Olympic champion.
The youngster’s sensitivities snowballed in 2022, when a series of injuries clipped his wings and plunged him into a crisis of self-confidence, which he now describes as an “abyss”. Some who experienced a severe Emmanuelle panic attack at close range remember the moments with dread.
“After an injury in the indoor season, a series of events followed that lowered my morale. For the first time this year I had a panic attack which, as a result, plunged me into anxiety and depression for quite some time,” wrote Emmanuel on Twitter in 2022. “I’m stopping the season here. I need to rest and focus on my mental health for a while. I need to take a step back and take a break to get my smile back.” Who can imagine Emmanuel Karalis without his trademark bright smile?
At that critical time “Manolo” was left in the arms of his own people and found solace. His father Harry (a former decathlete) took on the role of coach, while his mother Sarah, originally from Uganda, made sure to get him back on his fit legs. “My mom was the one who believed in me when I was in the abyss. What a mother says is always right, no matter if it takes years to understand it. That’s why I dedicated the medal to her here in Paris.”
Sure of himself
Adorned with a priceless bronze disc with material from the Eiffel Tower, 2024’s – and fine wine connoisseur – Emmanuel Karalis is perfectly settled and self-assured. “Now, yes, I know that I belong to the pole vaulters” he says. “Nobody can take that away from me. I will win more medals, I will also jump six meters. I thought I would do it in Paris too the big jump if I needed it to get on the podium. If all goes well, I’ll get to 6.10m in LA.”
The old boys who bullied him and his sister in high school were certainly among the nameless crowd that celebrated Emmanuel’s Olympic medal last Monday. Perhaps they were also nationally proud, like the inexcusable prime minister who raised the wall of shame in Evros to keep poor immigrants like Sara Mulunga-Karali out of Greek territory. “There is an excess of negative energy out there, but also a lot of nastiness,” Manolo told us in that 2019 interview. “I’ve learned to shut my ears, but it’s not always easy,” he adds today. “I hope I gave answers with my actions.”
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