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Tarragona makes final preparations with international sporting event due to begin on June 22

Aged between 17 and 30, the helpers in the upcoming sporting event are from 25 countries

For the run-up to the Mediterranean Games, the seaside town will host a performance by the Symphonic National Orchestra of Barcelona and Catalonia

Sporting event held in Tarragona region will bring 150,000 spectators, according to organizers

Past-time traditionally associated with pirates and sailors kept alive by association in south Catalonia

Third edition of the video game and e-sports fair moves to late November and a new home on Gran Via

The International Olympic Committee asked the Spanish government twice about the issue, and is still waiting for a response

Amid political clash over independence referendum, King Felipe VI praises institutional “joint effort” in 1992

The main architect of the great transformation the city experienced a quarter of a century ago says opening up to the sea was the principal feat

Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 made it impossible for 5,000 athletes to take part in People’s Games planned for the city

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Barcelona – The Pyrenees-based candidacy to host the 2026 Winter Olympics has been rescinded by its own promoters.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.

On the 15th of October 2011 the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games (ICMG) chose Tarragona as the city to host the Games in 2017. In this way Tarragona, in southern Catalonia, culminated its quest for the event, dating back to 2007. An unexpected turn, though, has now obliged the postponement of the Games for a year. The cause of such a measure is, according to the President of the ICMG, Amar Addadi, the “financial implications” deriving from the “10 months of deadlock” over the formation of the Spanish Government, which affected the “sporting activities and the preparation of the Tarragona Games”. The organisation has only received half of the €20 million expected from sponsorship and Spanish Government arrears owed to the project total €12 million. Hence, and in light of the economic climate, the Committee has decided to postpone the event, an unprecedented measure.   

On a day like today, 30 years ago, Barcelona achieved its long-time dream to become the venue for the Olympic Games. It was 1.30 pm on Friday the 17^th of October 1986 when the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, announced that Barcelona had just won the nomination to host the major sports event in 1992. The proclamation was followed by an outburst of joy in Catalonia and also in the Palais de Beaulie of Lausanne, the venue of the IOC session. Barcelona won the race over five other cities, Paris, Brisbane (Australia), Belgrade, Amsterdam and Birmingham, and by doing so it gained a place on the world map, undertook a major urban transformation and breathed into its citizens a feeling of great pride in their city.  

Barcelona Games World has kicked off this Thursday at the Montjuic Exhibition Centre in the Catalan Capital. In its first edition in Barcelona, after the organisers decided to move it from Madrid, the fair expects to surpass the 90,000 visitors that attended Madrid Games Week last year. The event, which will last until the 9^th of October, will count on the participation of 155 exhibitors setting up showcases by brands such as Electronic Arts, Nintendo and Badland Games. The fair will serve as a connecting point between businesses, facilitating the market for professionals who work in the field, but there will also be room for amateur and professional video games competitions and conferences by key gurus of the video game industry.