ATR First: Barcelona Celebrates 25th

(ATR) The 25th anniversary of the 1992 Olympics next week was almost going to be forgotten.

Guardar

(ATR) The 25th anniversary of the 1992 Olympics next week was almost going to be forgotten.

The Barcelona city government, led by a mayor who was a teenager at the time of the Games, initially said it wanted the anniversary to be marked in a low key manner.

But a near revolt months ago by some of the 38,000 volunteers who served during the Olympics convinced the leftist government of the city to expand the celebration.

Former CEO Josep Miquel Abad along with a number of medalists from ’92 were part of the campaign. Pascal Maragall, the mayor who led the city through the Olympics, was another voice who could not be ignored.

"The Olympics changed the city and placed Barcelona on the map," says Maragall, now 76 and suffering Alzheimer's disease.

Current mayor Ada Colau will preside over the July 25 tribute for Barcelona with IOC President Thomas Bach and International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven.

A reenactment of the torch relay will end with a big party in Placa Catalunya, one of the main public spaces during the Olympics. The niece of Maragall,Elisabeth Maragall, a medalist from Barcelona will be the first torch bearer.

Another key figure from the Barcelona Olympics is the late IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, a lifelong resident. He was recognized at an event at the Collegi de Economistes de Catalunya this week.

Journalist Pedro Palacios, press chief of COOB, the 1992 organizing committee, hailed the IOC leader as "a universal Barcelona citizen" but notes that he has gained worldwide recognition except in the place where he was born.

"It is unfair what Barcelona is doing with the legacy of Samaranch," he said this week at an event to launch the Samaranch tribute. Sitting nearby was the son of Samaranch, Juan Antonio Jr., now an IOC vice president.

The Barcelona Olympics took place from July 25 to August 9 with 172 NOCs participating, 9959 athletes competing. The Games were the first in 20 years without a team boycotting. They were the first held following the dissolution of the U.S.S.R.

The 8th Paralympics, organized a month later, were the first to be held in conjunction with the Olympic host.

Written by Ed Hula.

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.

Guardar

Últimas Noticias

Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”

The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”