Had Michalis Kalomiris not been browsing a list a few months ago of track and field athletes who qualified for the Olympics, the lawyer from Greece may not have known there was a spot waiting for him in Rio.
Kalomiris, an amateur runner, competed in the Rome Marathon in March 2015. He finished with a time of 2:29.30, which was quite impressive but roughly 10 minutes too slow to qualify for Olympic competition. However, he discovered after spotting his own name on the list of Olympic runners that he got through on a technicality.
According to the Greek publication Ekathimerini, athletes who finish in the top 10 of a Gold Label event (which the Rome Marathon was) still have a chance to qualify for the Olympics even if they don’t meet the appropriate time requirement. Kalomiris ended up being one of those runners.
“The conditions were tough, with constant rain and cold,” he explained. “Better athletes in the race decided to give up.”
Kalomiris describes himself as an “amateur training at sub-elite level.” He is an avid exercise enthusiast, and he typically runs somewhere around 100 miles per week in his Athens neighborhood.
“When you really like something a lot, you find a way of fitting it into your life,” Kalomiris said.
Still, he never envisioned his hobby leading to a chance to compete in Rio. Some in Kalomiris’ home nation are upset than he qualified on a loophole, whereas others have been supportive. He knows he has no shot at winning a medal, but he has still taken time off work to train.
“When I asked if I could take three months off at the office, they were ready to support me,” Kalomiris said. “It was very important because it spared me the anxiety that I was letting them down. I would like to think that this story makes everyone involved in running believe more in themselves and keep up the effort.”
While you can understand a more gifted runner feeling slighted by Kalomiris’ inclusion, it’s hard not to pull for a story like that.
