olympics

Andorra La Vella and La Seu d’Urgell to organize 2018 Special Olympic Games

May 4, 2017 12:33 PM | ACN / ANA / Adrià Solé

The joint bid between Andorra la Vella, the capital of the Principality of Andorra and the closest Catalan town, La Seu d’Urgell, to organize the 2018 Special Olympics Games has been successful. The Mayor of Andorra la Vella, Marc Pons, and the mayor of La Seu d’Urgell, Albert Batalla, made this public last week. The two mayors said the games would be a challenge and there will promote the two cities as sports centers and towns of solidarity. The event will be held from the 4th to 7th of October and will bring more than 2,400 people from more than seventeen international delegations. This will be the first time that the Special Olympic Games, the most important international sports event for athletes with mental disability, will be held in the Pyrenees.

 

Barcelona drops bid to host 2026 Winter Olympics

March 16, 2017 06:43 PM | ACN

Barcelona – The Pyrenees-based candidacy to host the 2026 Winter Olympics has been rescinded by its own promoters. According to Barcelona’s deputy mayor, Jordi Collboni, the decision responded “to the current social and economic circumstances not only in Barcelona but in the whole country”. Collboni also emphasized Barcelona’s image as an Olympic city, won in 1992, and rejected any eventual “false move” which might affect its good reputation. “If we submit an application, we want it to be the winning option,” he said and admitted that in order for that to be true the candidacy “must have full political and social support”. The conclusions emerged from the committee responsible for analysing the candidacy, backed by the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’, Left wing pro-independence ERC and the Democratic Group.

 

Catalan swimmer Mireia Belmonte brings first gold for Spain at Rio Olympics

August 11, 2016 10:57 AM | ACN

Mireia Belmonte won the 200-metre butterfly this Wednesday and became the first Spanish woman to win an Olympic swimming gold medal. The 25-year-old, trained at Club Natació Sabadell, not only improved her result obtained four years ago in London, where she obtained the silver medal, but registered the fastest time so far this year, 2 minutes 4.85 seconds, beating Australian Maddie Groves by three hundredths of a second. World champion Natsumi Hoshi came third. Belmonte’s gold is to be added to the bronze in the women’s 400m individual medley on Saturday, which was also the first for Spain in any sport at Rio Olympics. The Catalan swimmer’s four medal career haul makes her Spain’s most successful swimmer.