RocaJunyent defends athlete Elena Congost against IPC
The Spanish firm RocaJunyent, alongside law firms Vigo (France), Meo Law (Germany), and Dupont-Hissel (Belgium), will provide pro-bono legal assistance to Spanish paralympic marathoner Elena Congost and her guide, Mia Carol Bruguera, against the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in the courts of Paris.
The context is the marathon for visually impaired athletes at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Elena Congost, a world-class athlete with a degenerative visual impairment, participated in the marathon with her guide, Mia Carol Bruguera. One of the unique aspects of the marathon for visually impaired athletes is that it is run in a duo, with the athlete and her guide connected by a rope. The two finished the marathon in third place, earning the bronze medal. The fourth-place finisher, Japanese athlete Misato Michishita, finished more than three minutes behind Congost and Bruguera.
However, the Spanish athlete allegedly violated the rules when she momentarily let go of the rope tethered to her guide, just before the finish line during the race September 8, 2024, in Paris. Carol suffered a cramp at the end of the race, which led Congost to let go of the rope in an attempt to help her guide. The duo arrived third place, but a few minutes after the end, Elena Congost and Mia Carol Bruguera were informed that, following a complaint from the Japanese athlete’s team, the IPC had decided to disqualify them. The bronze medal was awarded to the Japanese athlete and her guide. This decision and the rule upon which it is based form the core of the legal dispute.
Congost’s international achievements include a silver medal in the 1,500 meters at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and a gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympic Games. After the Rio Games, she paused her international career to become a mother of four. Since 2022, she has balanced her family life with a return to training in order to compete in the visually impaired marathon at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
