BEIRUT: One of sport’s greatest strengths is its total meritocracy. No athlete has ever collected a medal and not deserved it, apart from the occasional cheater. Sport and competition separates the wheat from the chaff, particularly in individual sports where participants are solely reliant on their skill, resolve and discipline.But there are blind spots and injustices away from the arena.

Athletes from certain countries are afforded more opportunities than others thanks to greater facilities and access to coaching, while others are overlooked by the bodies that they are supposed to represent.

While Lebanon’s Sports Ministry has been working to gain more resources for their athletes, the resources it has have sometimes been misdirected or rather incomplete.

The ministry doesn’t have enough money to fully furnish every corner of Lebanese sport but there is one shining example where one athlete has been completely overlooked.

Edward Maalouf is arguably Lebanon’s most successful living sportsman and yet all he has ever received from the country he has represented with such distinction is a plane ticket and a tracksuit. This is very little considering the five-figure sums handed out to athletes that will almost certainly never win a medal on the world stage.

In last Sunday’s Beirut Marathon, Maalouf coasted into first place in the Special Needs category. But what else would you expect from a two-time Paralympics medalist.

While his government has failed to recognize its best racer by supplying the necessary funds to train for a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics, Maalouf does receive recognition from those he is trying to inspire.

“Well, I get many comments and good support about the race I did on Sunday,” Maalouf told The Daily Star’s Sports Weekly, “There are a lot who know and a lot that don’t know what I’m doing and what my objectives are. So when I come home, I try to promote what I’m doing and promote my sport to help people get involved. It’s not just a big ceremony being in the Olympics.

“During the marathon I heard a man called Ahmad Roul said he was so inspired that he would like to continue the work I have done. He has a goal.”

Maalouf lives and trains in Holland, where he trains year-round trying to improve on his two bronze medals that he earned at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Maalouf may be something of a gentle, well-spoken individual but it hides an iron will and single mindedness.

“If I put an objective in front my eyes, then that’s [all I concentrate on]. I have always been determined, before my handicap I was like this and I thought that would change after my handicap but I only got greater determination to do more and more. You need to prove to yourself that you can still fight for what you are doing, keep fighting [for] what you want to reach in life.”

The memories of Beijing are still fresh in his mind and just the thought of his momentous achievement, winning Lebanon’s first ever medals at the Paralympics, lightens Maalouf’s face, taking him into something of a trance.

“It’s a beautiful emotion, it’s the most beautiful thing in life that can be reached, an Olympic medal. It was so beautiful to see your flag rising among all the flags on the biggest sports podium in the world. You can’t explain the feeling of happiness. My aim was gold, but I got two medals and that was an achievement.”

In 1995, Maalouf fell six stories from a building in Beirut, permanently paralyzing him. Two years later, Maalouf began to take part in disabled sports.

“When I was first in a wheel chair, I started to play basketball and in 2000 I started to do marathons, all this time I wanted to do something. Then after I saw the Athens Olympics I was so motivated to do something, I wanted to reach Beijing in 2008 and I did it. Now its London and I hope to be prepared.”

Maalouf went onto win the handcycle marathon in New York in 2006 before earning the silver medal in the disability cycling World Championships in Bordeaux a year later. In Beijing, he carried the Lebanese flag in the opening ceremony before creating history in the Individual Time Trial and the International Road Race.

Preparation for the London Olympics in a year’s time shouldn’t be a problem for the almost pathologically determined Maalouf, but raising the funds to do so may be tougher.

“Here I have a big problem with financing my practice for the Olympic Games. It takes four years, you don’t just push a button and is finished. Its four years of hard work and during this time you need financial support. I’m happy that I get a little bit of support from Nejje Boutros who saw what I did and decided to support me. I need more people like [Boutros] because it costs a lot to prepare.

“Until now, nothing is secure because all the time I need money. The budget is too high for one person to pay for it.

“I get a little bit from Mike Sports but the government, nothing, they did nothing for this. I’m hoping over the coming years this will be better.

“Our problem in Lebanon is that we don’t have a vision, we don’t have any plans and everybody looks after their own [interests] rather than the future of the nation and sport. Everyone looks for position. I have had success because I know what I want, I know what I want to do, I put an objective in front of my eyes and I follow my dreams. I want to do something good for me, something good for sports and something good for Lebanon and be a good example for others to follow.

“My plan is to train other people, I would love to train them to give people the experiences I had and to continue what I have done.”

At 42 years of age, Maalouf is unsure whether this will be his last chance at Olympic glory.

“Maybe in four or five years, maybe the next year will be the last of my career, I don’t know. Plans can change but now I must focus on one thing; the Olympic games in 2012. You have to put a plan in place and have the discipline to follow and prepare.

“I’m not expecting anything, I’m just have to do what I have to do, prepare myself, train and then we will see. In sports nothing is sure so you have to be confident and prepare. I have done it before and I want to do it again.”

Retirement however is far from Maalouf’s mind, which would have to be considering the grueling training required to perform at an Olympics.

“To have fun in the race you don’t have to train much, you only to train for a few days and it’s over. To be special you have to try hard. In the winter time you have your basic training, about six or seven hours a day training, five to six days a week.

“You feel the pain, you are just exhausted, you just want to sleep and the next day you do the same. You don’t have any social life because all your life is training, eating, training and sleeping. This is what you do for a whole year, it is a hard job, that’s why there are few top-level athletes. Not every person [can put that kind of effort in]. I chose to be special.”

And no other word sums up Maalouf better.