MADRID, 25 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, was very grateful to the Princess of Asturias Foundation this Wednesday after learning that the Foundation and the Refugee Olympic Team will be awarded the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Sports.
“We are very honored and grateful to the Princess of Asturias Foundation jury,” said Thomas Bach, also president of the Olympic Refuge Foundation. “This award is an encouragement to continue our mission to help refugees and displaced people around the world find safety, relief and joy through sport,” he added.
“The Olympic Refugee Foundation is an expression of our long-term commitment to refugees. Unfortunately, with more than 100 million forcibly displaced people around the world, our mission remains paramount and our commitment to supporting refugees is stronger than ever,” Bach told the IOC.
In addition, he recalled that “since the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the IOC Refugee Olympic Team has represented millions of refugees around the world and has drawn the world’s attention to the refugee issue, further boosting efforts to achieve world peace by eliminating the wars and conflicts that cause people to flee their homeland”.
The prize announced this Tuesday goes to the Refugee Olympic Team because “it combines the highest values of sport, such as integration, education, solidarity and humanity, and represents a message of hope for the world,” the jury said in the ruling read this Wednesday at the Hotel Eurostars de la Reconquista in Oviedo.
The award jury was made up of Abel Antón (president); Theresa Zabell (secretary); Alexander White; Vicente del Bosque; Emilio Butragueño; Miguel Carballeda; Maria Paz Corominas; Joaquin Folch-Rusiñol; Juan Ignacio Gallardo; Patricia Garcia; Vicente Jimenez; Santiago Nolla; Edurne Pasaban; River Dove; Albert Saez and Alberto Suarez.