Catalan sport presents its shortlist for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

He CAR of Sant Cugat this Tuesday was held the presentation ceremony of Catalan athletes to participate in Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. With qualification processes still underway, there are already forty-four athletes pre-selected for a French event with ninety-nine days to go. He August 28 The starting point will be given to the great multi-sports event and a representation of the Catalan delegation will be present, at the end September 8thsent his feelings.

It was in an event organized by CAR and the Spanish Paralympic Committee, led by Jose Luis Liarte and in the presence of the general secretary of the CPE Miguel Sagaraof Ramon Terrassa as director of the CAR of Sant Cugat and a good list of athletes classified for the Paris Games. The swimmer spoke on behalf of them all Sarai Gascón and the cyclist Sergio Garrotewho aspire to be two of the leaders of a Spanish team that wants to maintain its exceptional role in recent editions. Catalan institutions were not present at the event.a fact that has become very critical of Paralympic sport.

This is the seventeenth Paralympic Games to be held in Paris. It will bring together around 4,400 blind, physically challenged, intellectually disabled and cerebral palsy athletes with the aim of fighting for the coveted medals. There will be 549 events spread over it, in the same twenty-two sports as in Tokyo and including a representation already ensured by 182 countries which is looking to grow in the coming weeks. As for the Olympic Games, most of the Paralympic venues are concentrated in the center of Paris, with seventeen facilities and will begin with an opening ceremony that will take place in a parade on the Champs-Élysées and climax in the Plaza of Concord.

The Spanish team aims to have a squad of around 230 people, with around 140 athletes of various federations and supporting athletes and comrades 90 people from the respective teams of those athletes. There are already 89 announcements from thirteen different federations (four of the various Paralympic federations and nine other Olympic federations such as badminton, cycling, canoeing, rowing, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, Olympic shooting and triathlon). The forecast is that 65% of the team will be men, although at the moment they are working on a global preselection of 250 athletes, 44 of them Catalan.

At the moment, the distribution of Spanish athletes is 31 in swimming, 24 in wheelchair basketball, 10 in athletics, 10 in table tennis, 6 in canoeing, 2 in boccia, 2 in taekwondo, 1 in cycling, 1 in rowing, 1 in shooting and 1 in shooting bow. These are numbers that are expected to increase in the coming months both in these modalities and in others that have not yet been classified.

The support of ADOP plan and the extensive list of CPE sponsors allows the Spanish team to move to numbers similar to those of Tokyo 2021 in terms of classified classification. Three years ago there were thirty-six medals won at the Games, a huge challenge for an expedition that was counting down the days before the big event.

A specified preselection

This Tuesday he presented himself to them 44 Catalan athletes shortlisted for the Paris Games. That is, those who already have a position or continue to fight for it with a high chance of getting it.

The 44 preselected Catalan sports for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

-16 in swimming: Sarai Gascón, Miguel Luque, Nuria Marqués, Toni Ponce, José Antonio Marí, Óscar Salguero, David Levecq, Ariel Enrique Schrenk, Emma Feliú, Daniel Ferrer, Marian Polo, Jacobo Garrido, Mahamadou Dambelleh, Ian Florencio, Àlex Villarejo and Berta García
-11 athletes from the CAR team: Gerard Descarrega (recovering from an injury with a big challenge to reach Paris), Yassine Ouhdadi, Elena Congost, Mari Carmen Paredes, Martín Parejo, Jordi Madera, Iván Hernández, Melani Bergés, Lorenzo Sánchez, Sydney Fokou and Raúl Gracia
-4 wheelchair basketballs (both Spanish teams qualified): Óscar Onrubia, Jordi Ruiz, Biel Carbó and María Heras
-3 cycling: Sergio Garrote, Martín Berchesi and Christian Venge
-3 table tennis: Jordi Morales, Álvaro Valera and Alejandro Díaz
-2 taekwondo: Joel Martin and Dalia Santiago
-2 tennis: Martín de la Puente and Francesc Tur
-2 boccia: Vasile Agache and Ramón Prat
-1 paddle: Josefa Benitez

Sarai Gascón and Sergio Garrote, godfathers and godmothers with vindication

Two of the fortresses of the Spanish team checked the path to the Paris Games, the swimmer Sarai Gascón and the cyclist Sergio Garrote. Gascon He will face his fifth Paralympic Games, with six silvers and two bronzes behind him and after shining a few weeks ago at the European Championships in Madeira. “Preparation for the Games started after the Tokyo Games and it became a shorter and more intense path. The fact that we already have the minimum and the good results of the European Championship gives us peace of mind, but we want to improve”, highlighted the Egarense. “In the 100 freestyle I won gold but I was not satisfied with the score, so we will try to improve at the World Series in Berlin in a few days,” he assured.

Both Gascón and Garrote spoke about the need for equality between Olympic and Paralympic athletes. “For the first time the prizes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be equal”Celebrated Sarai. Although equality is still not true. “I want representatives of Catalan sport to be able to attend an important event for us”He was launched Club in the absence of members of CAR institutions.

The cyclist faces the final stage of his preparation for Paris, an event where he arrives with gold at the 2021 Games, two world golds and a gold at this year’s World Cup. “I have no more competition. I want the maximum. “Everyone has a plan and whoever executes it best will win,” he highlighted. Club. “Two weeks ago I saw the Paris circuit. It’s very demanding and I like it and participating in the Games means reaching the end of the work we do every day,” he added.

This influenced the demands Miguel Sagara, general secretary of the Spanish Paralympic Committee. “The priority for me and the Spanish Paralympic Committee is the athletes, because they are worth fighting for. More and more Spaniards know that your ability is beyond ‘dis’”, was pointed out with another claim. “Let’s see if the ‘handicap’ corrected in the Constitution is also changed in the autonomous laws,” he added before thanking the ADOP Plan for its work.

The Paris Games were called to mark the transition between a veteran Spain with many remaining players who will prepare a replacement for the young athletes who have succeeded and who will take the baton. Many of them will be Catalans, athletes who continue to dream ninety-nine days before the big event with total belief that it would be magical.