Alejandro Blanco: “We are a benchmark in the world despite competing with countries with bigger budgets”

Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committeedeclared this Monday that the Spanish athletes, with their achievements, have become “references in the world despite competing with countries with ten, twenty or thirty times the budget.”

He top leader of the Spanish Olympic Committee, A month and a half before the start of the Paris Games, he emphasized the national team’s ability to “pursue dreams together” in search of excellence that results provide.

“There is no individual in life, all of you are the result of what you have worked for in this time with the result of the work of many people. When we compete with countries with ten, twenty or thirty times the budget, we continue to be the benchmarks of sport in world,” said AAlejandro Blancoin an event organized by the Sanitas Foundation.

“We have exceptional athletes, great coaches, the best club structure in the world, great federations and help from various governments, entities, sponsors, families and your environment. If we don’t do it together it’s impossible ,” he confessed.

by your side, Miguel Carballeda, president of the Spanish Paralympic Committee, He emphasized Sanitas’ commitment to “equality and inclusion” by “sharing the dream for Paris, doing it together in the Olympic and Paralympic world” and thanked the government for its decision to financial recognition for medals in both Games is equal.

Adiaratou Iglesias, double gold and silver medalist at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in the 100 and 400 meters, respectively, recalls his difficult origins in Mali, his arrival in Spain at the age of eleven and how at age at fifteen he started doing athletics thanks to the help given by his adoptive mother.

Teresa Portela, Olympic runner-up in Tokyo and winner of 59 international medals in canoeing, recalled his first Games in Sydney, in 2000, when he was a junior. “It was a reward to be there because when you have nothing to lose you enjoy it more.”

“Now, as the years go by, I feel lucky to experience this sport, I feel special. I have always gone to the Games thinking they were the last,” she confessed.

Sara Andresbronze medalist at the last World Paralympic Athletics Championships in Kobe (Japan) in the 100 meter dash T64 class for the physically disabled, emphasized the value of Paralympic sport.

“It gets you out of the routine, it gives you values, stability. These are values ​​that you can apply in your daily life. Then the competition equals the feeling when you have legs. It’s great that the same thing gives you the same sensation,” he confessed. the Madrid native, who said that if he hadn’t been an athlete he would have loved to have been a jockey.

Eva Moralbronze medalist in the Paralympic triathlon at the Tokyo Games, assured that this three-year period was “difficult because of motherhood but also special” because of the motivation of thinking about the Paris Games.

“Being a mother has given me the opportunity to feel vulnerable but also very strong. I didn’t even change that much after the accident. My daughter is my driving force. My biggest motivation is to know that my daughter that girl is in Paris at the finish line. and seeing that her parents are working hard every day to make a dream come true,” commented the wheelchair triathlete, who also mentioned the triathlete. Javi Gómez Noya and the athlete Ana Peleteiro as references.

The gymnast Ray ZapataOlympic floor runner-up in Tokyo, mentioned Rafael Nadal as one of his references and one of the people he would love to meet at the Games, something other speakers chimed in on.

Misa Rodriguez, international goalkeeper for Real Madrid, took stock of the time he spent as a professional player and assured that “nobody when they debut in the First Division think about what they can achieve later.”

“I went to the national team three years ago and you thought that won things but not a World Cup. Now I hope to be with the Games,” he said.

Ignacio ‘Pincho’ Ortegaa player of Ilunion and the Spanish wheelchair basketball team, assured that the national team of which he is a part will “do everything possible to get the podium” in Paris.

“We are very hungry. We came fourth in Tokyo and we really want to come back and show that we are capable of winning,” he said.