Two-time Olympic taekwondo silver medalist Alexanderos Nikolaidis has died at the age of 42 due to cancer

In the moving Facebook post Nikolaidis detailed his fight against the rare form of the disease.

“For two years, I was also tortured by cancer. I had a rare type of cancer, nut carcinoma, that currently nine out of ten Greek doctors who read this message, are probably hearing it for the first time and will rush to look it up.”

“I never said ‘Why me’? I was lucky enough to be loved by the most wonderful woman in the world, my gift from God, as her name is, and to have a beautiful family.”

The Thessaloniki native Nikolaidis was a decorated welterweight taekwondo champion. In addition to his two Olympic silver medals he was a three-time European Champion (Zagreb 1996, Patra 1997 and Rome 2008) and 1996 World Champion.

He was the hometown and world favorite heading into the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, but lost to Moon Dae-Sung of South Korea in the gold medal match.

In Beijing 2008 Nikolaidis repeated his Olympic glory with another silver medal, and repeated as European Champion. He was also named the 2008 Greek Male Athlete of the Year.

On March 24, 2008, Nikolaidis was first to carry the flame from Greece on its journey to Beijing. He also carried the flag for Greece during the Parade of Nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

The London games was his last as he bowed out in the preliminary round. Shorty thereafter Nikolaidis retired and began his political career as a deputy spokesman for the left-leaning oppositon party Syriza.

Nikolaidis wanted to have his two sliver Olympic medals auctioned off for a charity to be designated by his two children.