Paralympians are still Olympians, says gold medallist
CYPRUS’ gold medalist in last summer’s Athens Paralympics Karolina Pelentridou launched a scathing attack against the Cyprus Sports Organisation (KOA) along with fellow athlete Andreas Potamitis in a press conference yesterday.
Pelendritou was responding to comments made by the Chairman of KOA, Dr Titos Christofides, and former Cypriot athlete and current Ambassador of Fair Play Dora Kyriakou, who both blasted Pelentridou and Potamitis for not accepting their prize money. Both athletes refused to collect the prize money, saying that it was an act of discrimination that they should only collecting 1/5 of the prize money that athletes would win in the Olympics.
Speaking to reporters, Pelendritou, who sat next to her mother Eleni, immediately hit back at the comments made by Christofides which she described as unjust and discriminating.
“I would like to clear up a couple of things which were stated by the President of KOA. He said the demonstration we held yesterday (on Thursday) was an insult to them in that we did not accept the cheques.
“I believe that if we hadn’t had been at the ceremony, it would have been an even bigger insult. But we accepted their invitations and turned up and spoke of our problems as it is our human right to do so.
“It was also noted that we had received the cheque and then gave it back to them. That is not true because we did not even hold the cheque in our hands for a single second.
“They also said that what we did was an insult to the other athletes, which we disagree with. We respect our fellow athletes and we call on them to respect what we are doing and we believe that being athletes they will understand what we are going through.”
Pelendritou then turned her attention to former Cypriot athlete Kyriakou who branded the actions of both Pelendritou and Potamitis as “unacceptable”.
“She said that our behaviour was unacceptable for not taking the cheque and that the competitions that we took part in do not have the same difficulty levels. I would like to pose a very simple question to her?
“If we were to cut off somebody’s legs or to have closes somebody’s eyes, would he or she have been able to swim 50 metres across. That’s all I have to say about that. In any case, the Cyprus Olympic Committee have stated that both the athletes of the Olympics and Paralympics have the same hardships to endure.
“I think that some people need to understand the meaning of Paralympics. Paralympics means the games running parallel to the Olympics. The reason they are not played the same time is simply because of the problem of space and time.
“We want the right to be treated as equals and we are fighting this difficult cause not just for us but for the youth of the game so they will not experience the same hardships we have gone through.”
Pelendritou fought back tears as she spoke of her desire from childhood to represent Cyprus and succeed despite being offered Greek citizenship from the Greek government so that she could represent Greece.
“Because there is no official association for disabled athletes in Cyprus, I was offered Greek citizenship so that I could represent Greece but I turned it down because I want to represent my island. Instead I had to pay all the expenses myself including the wages for coach in Greece – who unfortunately has still not been paid.”
“I don’t have any regrets representing Cyprus and it was always my dream to see the Cyprus flag raised in an arena with the national anthem in the background. The matter over KOA discrimination is now pending at the Supreme Court and we will fight for our right to equality.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance Makis Keravnos announced earlier in the day that Pelendritou would be receiving £2,450 on a monthly basis for six months from the Greek government in sponsorship money. as she is still studying in Greece. He added that that amount would most likely be paid even after the six months have expired.
A startled Pelendritou told reporters, who informed her of Keravnos’ announcement, that she was under the impression that the amount that she would be getting was to be £3,000.”
