Olympic taekwondo champion dies at 42 Alexandros Nikolaidisafter a battle with cancer.

Al. It was Nikolaides. two-time Olympic silver medalist and deputy spokesman for SYRIZA, and was a candidate for MEP in the 2019 elections.

“I’ll start with that cliché that in order for you to read this post of mine right now, I probably went somewhere better or nowhere.

I also had cancer for two years. With such a rare type of cancer, walnut carcinoma, that currently nine out of ten Greek doctors who read it hear it for the first time and rush to look. Fortunately, my own doctor, the wonderful Yannis Bukovinas, who took me by the hand on the most difficult journey of my life, knew this rare guy and did everything to save me or give me some more life. He turned heaven and earth upside down, brought medicines literally from the other side of the earth so that I could try them.

Two years I never once said “Why me”? There is no more selfish thought than this. It happens to someone, to our neighbour, to our neighbor. And now it happens to many. If I put a sign of good luck in my life, I will tell you now that I was lucky. I was lucky to fulfill my dreams, stand on the podium many times, celebrate my sport and my country, meet people from all over the world, learn respect, honorable competition, values ​​that are so important and try to put them into practice in your life as well.

I was lucky to be loved by the most wonderful woman in the world, my gift from God, what’s her name, and have a wonderful family.

So even in this misfortune that found me, I said thank you that if this was to come to my family, it did not find them or my children. I had to climb this mountain, I had to bear this burden. Not them.

On this difficult journey, I was lucky because I had the solidarity and care of so many people like my companion that many times I wondered how I deserved all that they selflessly offered me. First my doctor, Mr. Bukovinas, the rector, Mr. Dimopoulos, who helped so much in the first phase of my illness, and also later, in order to get all the treatment as quickly as possible. Mr. Iliadis, my thoracic surgeon, an excellent scientist who hugged me like a father during my very difficult lung surgery, Mr. Peyos, a neurosurgeon who relieved my terrible pain, and many, many others, from nurses to paramedics , they all showed their love and this love gave me strength.

And finally, I want to dwell on a man with alpha capital, Alexis Tsipras, he entered my life quite recently and gave me his friendship, his thought, his brotherly care, as if he had known me for eternity. He proved to me that everything he and the left stand for is a real life position. He supported me morally and practically, and did his best to provide me with the best possible care.

I want to tell everyone something.

You have succeeded. You kept me alive longer than my very aggressive cancer gave me a life extension gold medal at a very critical time when my daughter Eleanna was only 3.5 years old and didn’t remember anything about me, now at 5.5 years old , she will remember me at least as a distant memory, and she will be able to tell stories to her younger brother George so that they will forever keep me in their hearts.

My friends, in this life, where we are all transitory, what matters most is what trace we leave, and not how and when we leave.

For this reason, if I am the first reported patient with walnut carcinoma in our country, let me be an occasion to inform doctors and patients about this type of cancer, which, if diagnosed in time, can save a life. Let’s be an excuse to significantly strengthen our national health system, which has been so underestimated in recent years, not to wait in lines for x-rays, chemotherapy or surgery and waste precious time, to stop the laborious maze of bureaucracy and legal bottlenecks EOF, when potentially life-saving experimental drugs must be approved immediately.

If we come into this life with a purpose, I have decided what it will be. To give hope through what I have achieved in my life, from good to bad. For this reason, it is time for my two Olympic silver medals from Athens and Beijing, which I have kept well hidden for many years, to come out and return to where they belong, to human values. My last wish is that these two medals be auctioned and the money raised donated to structures for children chosen by my family.

If even one child is saved, it will be worth every blow to the head, every broken leg. This is the imprint I want to leave on society, this is the legacy I want to leave for my children.”

Alexandros Nikolaidis he has several awards in international and European competitions in this sport, the most important of which are silver medals in the +80 kg category at the Olympic Games in Athens and the Olympic Games in Beijing. His coach was Kostas Tsidimopulos. In December 2008, the PSAT received 1,875 votes as the 2008 Athlete of the Year.

In March 2019, his candidacy for SYRIZA in the 2019 European elections was announced, and in September 2020, he assumed the duties of Deputy Party Representative.

He was born in Thessaloniki on October 17, 1979 and his father was also a taekwondo champion. He studied physical education at AUTH. He started taekwondo in 1982 at the age of three and was a firefighter by trade.

At the 2000 Olympics, he suffered a fractured tibial crest, which ruled him out of the game for two years. He returned to the 2004 Olympics. In this sport, he competed in the +80 kg category and reached the final, which took place on August 29, 2004. In the final, he was defeated by the South Korean Mun Dae Sang by knockout in the first round, as a result of which he won silver medal.

In 2008, at the Pan-European Championships held in Rome, and 3 months before the Olympic Games in Beijing, he won a gold medal in the +87 kg category in the final with the French champion Pascal Zentil.

His next Olympic appearance was in August 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. On August 23, 2008, Nikolaidis reached the final (in the +80 kg category), but again suffered a crushing defeat (5-4) from the South Korean Cha Dong-Min. At the 2012 London Olympics, he dropped out early and did not qualify for a medal.

At the Pan-European Championships held in St. Petersburg, Russia, he won the bronze medal in the +87 kg category, losing to Azero Tavagul Bayramov in the semi-finals.