Munich is hosting the ‘Eurogames’ half a century after its Olympic date

The United Nations manifesto says that sport has the power to change the world because it promotes personal development, is good for health and disease prevention, promotes gender equality, promotes social integration and, moreover, enables the building of peace and the prevention or resolution of conflicts. Munich sought all this in 1972 with the organization of a JJ.OO. to erase the disaster of World War II, but everything was cut short. A Palestinian terrorist attack spread panic in the Olympic Village and killed 11 Israelis, a policeman and five of the terrorists. The Games are suspended for 34 hours. Despite everything, 7,134 athletes from 121 countries competed in 195 events, to complete the largest Games organized to date. Swimmer Mark Spitz was the most successful with his seven golds in their respective world records, but Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut was the great media star of her successes and failures in the Olympiahalle apparatus.

Fifty years later, Munich is again betting on sport to organize the biggest European Championships in history from August 11 to 21. Nine continental federations – athletics, cycling, canoeing, rowing, artistic gymnastics, climbing, triathlon, table tennis and beach volleyball – agreed to put together this mega-event that premiered in 2018 with the joint organization of Berlin and Glasgow. In 1972 it was far from equality with only 15% female participation, quite the opposite in 2022 where there will be maximum equality in all modalities with a total of 4,700 athletes from 50 countries. Munich would once again breathe the Olympic atmosphere half a century later, to the delight of a whole generation of citizens who were dissatisfied with them. The city council expects to mobilize more than a million spectators.

Spain will replace a total of 244 athletes who will have the mission to improve the 16th position according to the country in the 2018 edition. Ahead, 11 days of competition in and around Munich, with 531 medals at stake and five sports that will repeat in the Olympics. venue since 1972: athletics, canoeing, cycling, rowing and artistic gymnastics. Among all sports, athletics has the largest presence with a total of 1,528 athletes, of which 98 are Spanish. The main national strength is the two bronze medalists from the Oregon World Cup, Asier Martínez (110 hurdles) and Mo Katir (1,500), but they will be joined by a legion of athletes who aspire to exceed ten medals in Berlin 2018. At international level, the event will not be missed by record holders Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis and Karsten Warholm, who will be looking to continue expanding their legend on a track where Lasse Viren, Kip Keino or Pietro Mennea in their time.

For its part, cycling will return to the streets of Munich with a new experience of women’s participation -women were not allowed to compete by bicycle in 1972-. The saturation of the calendar, with the proximity of La Vuelta a España, will reduce the participation of big names, but the best sprinters of the moment will not be lacking. Something similar was happening in canoeing at last week’s Halifax World Cup festival. The Spaniards who won the gold have already gone on vacation and only 14 of the 36 paddlers present in Canada will repeat in Munich. In total there will be 42 Spaniards fighting for medals. This is also the case with 10 Spanish climbers – among whom is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, Alberto Ginés-; the 10 artistic gymnastics -including Ray Zapata, silver in Tokyo 2020- and where this European will be a qualifier for the Liverpool World Cup (from October 29 to November 6, 2022); the 22 rowing events that will once again fill the Munich Olympic Regatta Center with life; the 8 of triathlon -there will be triple world champion Mario Mola-, the 8 of table tennis and the 8 of beach volleyball