This news shocked the entire Greek society. OUR Alexandros Nikolaidis he died at the age of 42, stricken with a rare form of cancer. The announcement of his death is a punch in the gut, a life lesson for everyone.

Alexandros Nikolaides was born in Thessaloniki on October 17, 1979. “My father, from the moment I was in the womb, decided what I would do …,” he admitted in one of his interviews.

First awards and a broken leg in Sydney

His father George was a taekwondo champion. Tatami was the lot of Alexandros Nikolaidis. His dedication, as well as his impressive physique (he was 2 meters tall), gave him the opportunity to excel from a very early age.

In 1996 he became the European Junior Champion and then the World Champion. A year later, he again climbed to the top step of the podium at the Pan-European Junior Championships.

In 2000 he took part in the Olympic Games for the first time. At the Sydney competition, Alexandros Nikolaidis was one of the big favorites for a medal. But bad luck knocked on his door in the quarterfinals. In a match against Colombian Milton Castro, he broke his leg while trying to score a point.

“It’s broken, it’s broken, Mom,” he said, writhing in pain. It was a moment that broke him, but made him even stronger.

Fair play at the Athens Olympics

He returned to competition after two years, and at the Olympic race in Athens his hour had come.

Indoors Faliro, performing in the +80 kg category, he won a silver medal. His last opponent was the South Korean Mun Dae San. Nikolaidis was defeated by knockout.

The moment his opponent celebrated winning the gold medal, the world booed him. The Greek athlete tried to recover from the blow, but in a rare moment of fair play, he hugged the South Korean and they celebrated together by wrapping themselves in the Greek flag.

It was his first Olympic medal. Another followed four years later in Beijing, where he lost to South Korean Cha Dong Min in the final. In 2012, in London, he participated in the Olympic Games for the fourth time, and the Greek Olympic Committee chose him as the flag bearer of the Greek delegation. It was, as he himself once admitted, one of the greatest moments of his career.

“In the stands, never in the VIP”

Alexandros Nikolaides was an admirer of Aris. He was rarely seen in official positions. He preferred the stands. In 2007, he even traveled to Zaragoza to watch his favorite team play in that season’s Europa League.

“I dream that my children become good people”

He was married to journalist Dora Zambazi, with whom he had two children. “I dream that they become good people, clench their fist when they offend a classmate and defend him, defend the rights of the weak, hug a new refugee friend from Syria or Ukraine. I would be proud if they “worn” medals of humanity and solidarity. These are the most important medals in life, the rest are just matter, ”he said in an interview with the onsports sports website.

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A post shared by Alexandros Nikolaidis (@alex_nikolaidis)

In 2019, he was a candidate for MEP for SYRIZA. After announcing his candidacy, he said, among other things: “As an athlete, I learned to fight from a young age until I reach my goals, and as an Olympian, I learned the values ​​of noble competition and respect for one’s neighbor. beings regardless of religion, nationality or race. I feel the need to instill the values ​​I have been taught in new generations, put sport back on the pedestal of young people’s daily lives and finally put my stamp on the efforts for a more just Europe without hate speech and racist tendencies.”

In May of the same year, he was not elected. However, he later worked as a deputy party spokesman.

His apologies for the murder of Alkis Campanos

In February 2022, he apologized for the murder of Alkis Campanos, as he believed that he was responsible to society. “Our society is sick, and Thessaloniki even more so, and we all bear a share of responsibility for this. First of all, I, who did not succeed, although I have long wanted to, carry a shovel to all the universities of the city and speak to students as an Olympian, as an athlete, as a grandson of refugees, as a father, as Alexander. Sorry Alki, sorry,” he tweeted, among other things.

First of all, I, who did not succeed, although I have long wanted to, carry a shovel to all the universities of the city and speak to students as an Olympian, as an athlete, as a grandson of refugees, as a father, as Alexander.

I’m sorry, Alki, I’m sorry.

— Alexandros Nikolaidis (@AlexandrosNik) February 3, 2022

The shocking post by Alexandros Nikolaidis announcing his death:

I’ll start with this cliché that in order for you to read this post of mine right now, I’ve probably gone 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 that I want to leave in society, this is the legacy that I want to leave for my children.