Alexandros Nicolaides remained a good boy in politics. He maintained his popular modesty, having experienced both sporting and political glory. He was always essentially polite, that is, not in a fake good way.
Indicative of his ethics is the incident from the 2004 Olympics. When some Greek “fans” started to disapprove of the South Korean athlete who beat him in the final. Alexandros then went and hugged him and went with him to the locker room, ending the inappropriate disapproval.
The news of the untimely loss of a great man and a great athlete caused nationwide emotion and a wave of grief.
In his last message posted on his accounts he was aware of the end. But he had the mental and emotional strength as well as the spiritual sobriety to express his gratitude for what he had lived through. To show his love to his own people and to talk about what is really important in life: love, humanity, struggle.
His last message
I'll start with this cliché, that for you to be reading this post right now, I'm probably off to somewhere better or even nowhere.
For two years, I too was tormented with cancer, μn such a rare type of cancer, carcinoma nut. That right now nine out of ten Greek doctors reading this are hearing about it for the first time and will rush to look for it. Luckily my own doctor, the wonderful John Boukovinas who took me by the hand on the most difficult journey of my life, knew this rare type. And he did everything he could to save me or give me a little more life. He moved heaven and earth to bring medicine literally from the other side of the world for me to try.
Two years I never said “Why me?” There is no more selfish thought than that. To someone by chance, to our neighbor, to our neighbor, to our fellow man. And now it happens to many. If I put a luck sign on my life, I will tell you even now that I was a lucky man. I have been blessed to make my dreams come true, to get on the podium many times. To glorify sports and my country to meet people from all over the world. To learn respect, fair play, values so important and try to put them into practice in my life.
I was lucky enough to be loved by the most wonderful woman in the world. Τmy gift from God, as is her name, and have a beautiful family.
So to this misfortune that befell me, I said thank you, that if this was meant to come to my family, it didn't come to her or my children. I had to climb that mountain, I had to carry that weight. Not them.
In this difficult journey, I was lucky because I was accompanied by the solidarity and care of so many people.. Πth many times I wondered what I did to deserve all that they selflessly offered me. First my doctor, Mr. Bukovinas, the dean, Mr. Dimopoulos, who helped so much in the first phase of my illness. Αbut also later, in getting any treatment as quickly as possible.
Mr. Eliades, my thoracic surgeon, an excellent scientist who embraced me like a father during my very difficult lung surgery. Ο κ. Peios, the neurosurgeon who relieved my terrible pains and many many others. ΑFrom nurses to paramedics, everyone showed me love and that love gave me strength.
And finally, I want to focus on the man with an alpha capital, Alexis Tsipras. ΉHe came into my life very recently and gave me his friendship, his thoughtfulness, his brotherly concern, as if he had known me forever. He proved to me that everything he and the left stand for is a real attitude to life. He supported me morally and practically and he too did his utmost to ensure that I received the best care.
I want to say to all of them something.
You have succeeded. You kept me alive longer than my very aggressive cancer deserved. You gave me the gold medal of extending my life at a very critical time, when my daughter Eleanna was only 3.5 years old and would not have remembered anything about me, and now at 5.5 years old she will remember me even as a distant memory and will be able to tell stories to her little brother George, so that they can keep me alive in their hearts forever.
My friends, in this life in which we are all passing, it matters most what footprint we leave behind, not how or when we leave.
Therefore, if I am the first registered patient with carcinoma nut in our country, let me be the reason for informing doctors, patients, on this type of cancer that if diagnosed in time may save lives.
Let me be the reason to substantially strengthen our national health system, which has been so undervalued in recent years, not to wait in queues for a CT scan, for a chemotherapy or a surgery and waste precious time, to stop the time-consuming bureaucracy and legal obstacles of the National Agency for Health and Consumer Protection when trial drugs that can save lives must be approved immediately.
If we come into this life for a purpose, I have decided what that purpose will be. To offer hope through everything I have accomplished in my life, from the good to the bad.
For this reason, my two Olympic silver medals, from Athens and Beijing, which I have kept well hidden for years, it is time for them to come out and return to where they belong, to universal values.
My last wish is for these two medals to be auctioned off and the amount raised to be given to the children's charities of my family's choice.
If even one child is saved, it will be worth every kick I've taken in the head, every broken leg.
This is the imprint I want to leave on society, this is the legacy I want to leave to my children.
