He warns that “everything is recorded” and announces that he plans to visit Catalonia
BARCELONA, 3 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, has assured this Friday that he will make “one last attempt” to try to reach an agreement and that the joint candidacy between Catalonia and Aragon for the 2030 Winter Olympics go ahead, and advised to “leave” politics on the sidelines.
This was stated in an interview on Catalonia Ràdio collected by Europa Press, after the president of Aragon, Javier Lambán, called on Thursday for the resignation of the president of the COE.
“Either we leave politics and focus on having a sports project, or we will not take out the candidacy, and in that case, the injured party will not be a person, it will be the territory,” warned Blanco, who believes that a storm has been unleashed politics –in his words– that has nothing to do with the candidacy.
After assuring that he cannot find an explanation for Lambán’s statements, he explained that six technical meetings were held, and that the president of Aragón already knew the distribution of the evidence from the first meeting.
Although he has avoided accusing Lambán of lying, he has assured that the distribution of the evidence comes from these technical meetings and that the representatives of Aragón endorsed the proposal: “Everything is recorded”, he has warned.
“There is what each one has said and the final vote. It is impossible to understand what is happening. Going on to talk about political commissioners, constitutionalism and nationalists, is outside of what a sports candidacy is,” added Blanco, who did not sees fit to take out such recordings.
POSSIBLE SINGLE CANDIDACY FROM CATALONIA
Despite everything, and after the recent visit of the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, he has stressed that he will make “one last attempt” to reach an agreement, making it clear that the joint candidacy continues to be his first option, and that plans to visit Catalonia.
In the event that it does not go ahead, they will continue to be in contact with the IOC to maintain the will to try to organize the Winter Olympics in 2030, thus leaving open the possibility of opening up to a solo candidacy led by Catalonia.
“You cannot miss the opportunity to hold the Olympic Games in Spain,” Blanco stressed, after pointing out that he has the support of the Government and that the IOC president is aware of the situation.
On whether in a solo candidacy from Catalonia he could add countries like France or Italy to host some tests, Blanco has asked to focus on Spain and analyze what can be done here: “First we have to solve our issue. See what candidacy we present”.