Mediterranean Games Postponed

(ATR) The 18th Mediterranean Games are being postponed for a year.

The new dates will now be June 22 to July 1, 2018. The original plan was for the event to run from June 30 to July 9, 2017. The city of Tarragona, Spain remains the host.

Tarragona Mayor Josep Felix Ballesteros and the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee Alejandro Blanco blamed the delay on a complicated political situation in Spain that has prevented proper funding for the event. No party has been able to assemble a parliamentary majority since elections in December. A second election in June failed to break the deadlock.

Ballesteros, who is also the president of the Organizing Committee of the Mediterranean Games, said in a press conference on Monday "the confidence of the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games (CIJM) remains intact and we have expressed this to its chairman Amar Addadi. The desire and enthusiasm to move forward with the project also remain intact and are shared with other public institutions."

Blanco, who appeared with Ballesteros at the press conference, expressed support for the games and says that he will meet Thursday in Madrid with Spain’s Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, Inigo Mendez.

Addadi, in a letter, congratulated the Organizing Committee for its "perseverance" while announcing the decision by the CIJM Executive Committee to delay the Games after a meeting in Oran, Algeria on Nov. 4.

The next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for April 21, 2017 with a seminar for chefs de mission set for Oct. 9-13, 2017.

The addition of the Mediterranean Games adds to an already busy 2018 for summer sports events, beginning with the Commonwealth Games in April. August includes the European Sports Championships, the Central American and Caribbean Games, the European Athletics Championships and the Asian Games. The Summer Youth Olympics will be in Buenos Aires in October.

Written by Gerard Farek

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