Ana ‘Furia’ Ortega: “Now people are starting to take breakdancing a bit seriously”

The ‘breaker’ presented together with José Luis Martínez-Almeida, Sofía Miranda and Juan Antonio Samaranch Madrid Urban Sports 2023

MADRID, 9 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The third edition of Madrid Urban Sports (MUS), an event that combines culture and urban sports, was presented this Tuesday in the capital of Spain with the ‘breaker’ Ana ‘Furia’ Ortega, a candidate to be at the Paris Games 2024, as a guest athlete at the round table ‘Urban sports conquer the Olympics’.

“It is a very big change and we are in the process of adapting. It has been very good because it has given us a value that in a certain way we did not have before,” said Ana ‘Furia’ during the presentation of the MUS 2023 at the Espacio Cultural Serrería Belgian. Thus, she has debated with Juan Antonio Samaranch, Vice President of the IOC; José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of Madrid, and Alfredo Relaño, honorary president of ‘Diario AS’.

“Before there were certain prejudices and certain burdens, we were not considered someone serious or dedicated exclusively to it,” ‘Furia’ asserted. “Now people are beginning to take us a little seriously, they realize that there is an incredible dedication and many hours of training,” he added in the colloquium moderated by the City Councilor for Sports, Sofía Miranda.

The MUS 2023, valid for the ranking that distributes tickets to the Olympic Games. of Paris 2024, will be held once again on the esplanade of Madrid Río-Matadero from June 16 to 18. 480 athletes will gather, from around thirty nationalities, from the main disciplines of skateboarding, BMX, ‘breakdance’ and scooter.

“It is in the street where Olympic sports have to give the next battle,” said Samaranch. “It is a natural evolution of the Olympic Games. Before, the Olympic spirit was in the stadiums. In the 21st century, those values ​​must be open to society, to the streets,” added the IOC Vice President.

“This is going to be seen very actively in Paris, starting with the Opening Ceremony, which is going to be throughout the city,” assured Samaranch, recalling that this inaugural parade with the different delegations by country will take place on a stage for the Seine river.

For his part, Martínez-Almeida stressed that the MUS “contributes” a lot to the cultural development of Madrid since “a city has to accept all the realities that take place in it”. “The world of sport is in the street, not only in its traditional modalities”, has valued the mayor of the capital.

“It helps young people to get started in healthier leisure alternatives than those found on the streets of big cities,” he continued. “It does not only serve to identify Madrid as a sports city, but also to identify it with the model of society that we want to build”, said the mayor, reiterating the “unbeatable opportunity” that the MUS represents for young people.