Athletes made of pure gold gave us excitement and pride on the sidelines and in the pools of the Paralympic Games.
THE Nassos Gavelas he was not born blind. He was stricken at age 10 with Stargardt disease, an inherited and incurable form of macular photoreceptor degeneration that mostly affects children. The child lost his central vision, but today he is a bright beacon for all of Hellenism. “I need a smile and people to support me,” he said in Paris shortly before wearing his second Paralympic gold medal on his chest. Today he is 24 years old.
O Thanasis Konstantinidiswinner of the Greek mission in the Paralympic Games with the two medals he won in the throws (gold in the shot put, silver in the discus), celebrated with his soul but not with full control of his movements. The hero of Paris suffers from dystonia. It is a movement disorder characterized by repetitive, involuntary muscle spasms. These are quite intense, causing the affected body parts to move irregularly. Many times the symptomatology includes the appearance of tremors. In Paris, 54-year-old Thanasis was shaking with joy and emotion. Like us, all of us.
OR Areti Arabela Spyridou he is only 12 years old, but he has been swimming since he was a small child. He suffers from a neuromuscular condition of unknown etiology called arthrogryposis that comes in a variety of horrific forms. Amyoplasia occurs in all four limbs with flabby, deformed arms and legs, internally rotated shoulders, stretched elbows, bent wrists, and flexed fingers. Little Areti swam 100m backstroke and was adored by the public in Paris. It’s almost impossible to watch the video without getting emotional.
THE Dimitris Karipidis he was born with osteogenesis imperfecta type III, so his bones are extremely fragile and break at the slightest sign. “I’m scared and I get a fracture” he jokes. The Hebrew swimmer broke the barrier of 50 surgeries before he turned 18. Today, at 37, he is the ambassador of the European Commission’s Together for Rights campaign, to promote the rights of people with disabilities. In Europe alone, there are more than 87 million people with disabilities. In Paris, Karipidis came 4th in the 100m backstroke. “Swimming is the right sport for me,” he says. “Even if I trip and fall, I’m not going to break anything in the water.”
OR Leda Manthopoulouteenage girl and Paralympic 100m medalist, suffers from multiple sclerosis.
The swimmer Alexandra Stamatopoulou he was struck down by the autoimmune Stiff Person syndrome and found himself in a wheelchair when he was 22 years old. Grigoris Polychronidis, the seven-time Paralympic medalist in the shot put, was born with spinal muscular atrophy and is undergoing experimental treatments hoping for improvement.
THE Nikos Papagelis4th in Paris road cycling, pedals with one leg after having his left leg amputated at the thigh high due to cancer. Athletics champion Stelios Malakopoulos had both his legs amputated after a horrific car accident. Antonis Tsapatakis fell with his motorcycle and was paralyzed at the age of 18. The president of the Paralympic Committee Giorgos Kapellakis was found in a wheelchair after an accident during diving.
“This medal was owed to me by life, since I am a competitor and I compete” said the shot putter Lazaros Stefanidis who claimed to climb the Paralympic podium at the tender age of 67. In our hearts, all people who play sports undaunted by disability and life’s setbacks, family men and scientists in most cases, are gold medalists. And they don’t need any medals to prove it.
#Life #owed #medals
