First modification: 25/05/2022 – 14:24Last modification: 25/05/2022 – 14:22
Madrid (AFP) – The Olympic Foundation and the Refugee Olympic Team were awarded this Wednesday in Spain with the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports, announced the jury, who highlighted the “message of hope” that they send to the world.
In the award ceremony, the experts highlighted the work of the Foundation and the Refugee Olympic Team, which debuted at the Rio-2016 Games, “for the opportunity it offers athletes in conflict zones” to “develop his sporting and personal activity”.
“The Refugee Olympic Team combines the highest values of sport, such as integration, education, solidarity and humanity, and represents a message of hope for the world,” adds the jury document chaired by former Spanish athlete Abel Antón and made up of professionals like the former Spanish soccer coach, and world champion in 2010, Vicente del Bosque.
During the General Assembly of the United Nations, convened in October 2015, in the midst of the global refugee crisis, the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Team – the first of its kind – for the Olympic Games in Rio-2016.
Ten athletes from Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria or South Sudan paraded in the opening ceremony at the Maracanã stadium, under the Olympic flag carried by the Congolese judoka Popole Misenga, and competed in athletics, judo and swimming.
With their training financed by scholarships called Olympic Solidarity, these athletes have the same consideration as any of those who participate in the Games.
In the Tokyo-2020 edition, held in 2021 due to covid, 29 athletes from 13 national committees participated, including taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh, who after becoming Iran’s first Olympic medalist in 2016, decided to leave her country four years later.
The Olympic Refugee Foundation, on its side, was created by the IOC in collaboration with UNHCR in 2017 to “support the protection and sports and personal development of displaced athletes, beyond the Olympic events,” according to the award statement. .
The Foundation’s programs have already benefited 200,000 young people from countries such as Colombia, Jordan, Kenya or Mexico and its goal is to reach one million in 2024, he adds.
Successors of Teresa Perales
The sports award is the fourth of the eight Princess of Asturias awards, the most prestigious in the Ibero-American world, which annually distinguish relevant people or institutions in fields ranging from scientific research to literature.
In the category that failed this Wednesday, 24 candidates from 10 different nationalities competed. Last year’s winner was the Spanish swimmer Teresa Perales, one of the most successful Paralympic athletes, and before that the tennis player Rafael Nadal, the New Zealand rugby team, the soccer players Íker Casillas and Xavi Hernández, the New Zealand soccer team. Brazil, or the athlete Carl Lewis.
In the 2022 edition, the Arts prize has already been awarded to the cantaora Carmen Linares and the choreographer María Pagés, important figures of flamenco, and the Communication and Humanities prize to the Polish journalist Adam Michnik, a prominent defender of human rights. and fundamental character in the recovery of democracy in his country, and that of Social Sciences for the Mexican archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, for his rigor in reconstructing the civilizations of Mexico and Mesoamerica.
Established in 1981, the prizes are endowed with 50,000 euros (about 53,000 dollars) and a sculpture created by the late Catalan artist Joan Miró.
The awards owe their name to the title of the heiress to the throne of Spain, Princess Leonor, and are delivered by her and by King Felipe VI and King Letizia in October in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias.
© 2022 AFP
