Alexandros Nikolaidis a Greek taekwondo athlete who was named the 2008 Greek Male Athlete of the Year and retired in 2014 had an estimated net worth of $1 million at time of death.
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Born on 17 October 1979, Nikolaidis passed away on 13 Oct. 2022 at age 42 after suffering from NUT carcinoma, an extremely rare type of cancer. Nikolaidis passed away four days to his 43rd birthday.
The Greek star left a moving message that was released on Friday [Oct. 14] on his social media pages detailing his fight with the disease;
“I suffered with cancer too…for two years I never said ‘Why me?
“There is no more selfish thought than that. It happens to someone, next to us, our neighbour, our fellow man. And it is happening to many now.
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“I will tell you even now that I was a lucky man. I had the blessing to make my dreams come true, to get on the global stage many times, to honour my sport and my country.”
“I’ll start with this cliche…I’ve probably left for somewhere better or nowhere.
“For two years, I’ve also been suffering from cancer. With such a rare type of cancer, nut carcinoma, that currently nine out of ten Greek doctors are probably hearing for the first time and will rush to look up.”
Nikolaidis won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics held in Athens after losing to Moon Dae-Sung of South Korea in the gold medal match.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Nikolaidis won another Olympic silver medal in the +80 kg category, after losing to Cha Dong-Min of South Korea in the final.
Aside his Olympic record, Nikolaidis won gold at the 1996 World Championships and clinched three European titles in 1996, 1997 and 2008.
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