Cyclist Eduard Novak, Romania’s only Paralympic champion, who was supposed to compete on Friday in the men’s C4-5 road race event at the Paralympic Games in Paris, announced that he is retiring from sport, dissatisfied with the merging of two handicap categories.

„My dears, I have given Friday’s competition a very minute thought, the road race with the two classes C5 and C4 combined. Out of the total of 26 athletes at the start, only 3 are prosthetics wearers. I think that this sport can no longer be called paracycling, I feel there’s no place for me there and I consider that this competition is not equal and fair in any way. That’s exactly why I regret to inform you that tomorrow (Friday, Ed. note) I won’t be taking the start. I withdraw from the race and officially retire from this sport which is no longer for people with disabilities and which has now become a victim of the political interests of dominant countries. Thank you for all your support!,” Novak wrote on social networks.

A former Sports Minister, Eduard Novak expressed his displeasure at the merging of the mentioned impairment classes in several posts about the Paralympic Games in Paris.

At the Paris Games, Novak placed 7th in the C4-5 1,000m time trial, 7th in the C4-5 4,000m individual pursuit event, and 10th in the C4-5 road time trial.

Eduard Novak won the gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics in the men’s individual pursuit class C4 track cycling event, and also took home silver in 2008, in Beijing, in the time trial road cycling event (LC2), in 2012 in the London Paralympics time trial class C4 road race, and in 2021 in Tokyo, in the individual pursuit C4 track cycling event. Back in 2021 he became the only minister to compete in a Paralympic Games edition.

AGERPRES