For personal reasons, Minister Iceta was absent from the event held at the INEF in Madrid
MADRID, 22 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The badminton player Carolina Marín, the cyclist Ricardo Ten, the former water polo player Jennifer Pareja, RC Celta de Vigo and Sevilla FC, among many other athletes and institutions, received gold awards this Thursday as part of the Royal Order of Sports Merit (ROMD), during a gala held at the National Institute of Physical Education (INEF) in Madrid.
The Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, was absent due to personal reasons from an event that was chaired by the Secretary of State for Sport, Víctor Francos, and whose main master of ceremonies was Alejandro Merino, director of External Relations and Protocol of the Higher Sports Council (CSD).
Thus, Francos highlighted the “true honor” of participating in the delivery of some awards “granted by Miguel Cardenal, María José Rienda, Irene Lozazo and José Manuel Franco, who with great success granted these prizes.” “Because I give them, but in life you have to be fair, and they give them,” he added about it.
“This is a festival of sport, not of leading roles or names. The true protagonists are you, you are the men and women whom we honor today. You are commitment, demand, effort, respect, teamwork, coexistence… and I could continue enumerating, and I would leave qualifiers for what you do”, said Francos.
In his speech, Francos continued to praise the winners. “But you are a lot, and a lot of things. In the great amount of values that enclose your commitment to sport is everything we aspire to be in sport and as a society,” he added. “Spanish sport is a Spanish flag in the world”, reiterated the Secretary of State.
“In the end, the CSD is the home of Spanish sport, it exists because of and for you, it exists because of and for the institutions that make sport possible and help us establish initiatives to benefit Spanish sport. And I tell you: keep pushing and keep going promoting”, he snapped at the business and institutional representatives.
“This Government has placed sport at the center of its policy. In our career, which I already warn you is going to be fundamental, it has achieved great milestones. For example, the long-awaited Sports Law, under the mandate of José Manuel Franco, was approved and that is a reality. We have allocated unprecedented resources to Spanish sport”, continued Francos.
In this sense, the Secretary of State described sport “as a key element to achieve an active, fair, inclusive and egalitarian society”. “We will continue to expand rights, protect talent and promote the reach of our sports industry”, he concluded at a gala that recognized the merits in the period from 2019 to 2023.
María Pérez, Undersecretary of Culture and Sport, awarded the gold medals to Eugenio Bermúdez, Alfonso Arroyo, Gabriel Sáez, Francisco Blázquez, Gonzaga Escauriaza, Fernando Galindo, Jennifer Pareja, Fructuoso López, Adiaratou Iglesias, Ricardo Ten, Mario Mola, Michael Robinson posthumously (collecting her son Liam Robinson) and Carolina Marín.
The gold plaques went to Celta de Vigo, with its president Carlos Mouriño; Real Murcia Tennis Club 1919; Unicaja Banking Foundation, with its president José Manuel Domínguez; Arenas Club de Getxo, with its president Gorka Zurinaga; Spanish Red Cross, with its president María del Mar Pageo; Sevilla FC, with its president José Castro at the helm, and Iberdrola, with Elisa Yarte and Laura Gil on the podium as top brand and sponsorship managers.
Miguel Carballeda, president of the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) awarded the silver medals to Bernabé Cano, Ignacio Jiménez, Albert Torres, Luis Alberto Hernando, José Manuel Ruiz, Berta Betanzos, Nuria Fernández, Lucas Eguibar and Regino Hernández.
The silver plaques went to Club Gimnástico San Blas, with its president Francisco Arias; Gasol Foundation, with its director Cristina Ribes; women’s roller hockey team, with Manuel José Moreno as general secretary of the Royal Spanish Skating Federation (RFEP), and Stadium Casablanca Zaragoza, with its president Jorge Sánchez.
The bronze medals went to Javier Latorre, Eduardo Gamero, German Fernandez, Jose Manrique, Pablo del Rio, Noel Martin, Carlos Tejada, Enrique Alvarez, Marcos Antonio Herrero, Angel Luis Gomez, Antonio Jesus de la Rosa, Julian Rebollo and Julian Espartero , Cristina Pedrosa, Jesus Avezuela, Maria Bernabeu, Joshua Brachi, Hector Cabrera, Ana Carrasco, Aina Cid, Astrid Fina, Amador Granados, Pablo Jaramillo, Carlos Lavador, Pedro Maroto, Jaime Martinez, Andres Eduardo Mata, Sebastian Mora, Joan Munar, Abel Mustieles, Amaia Osaba, Deliber Rodriguez and Jose Luis Vaquero.
The State Security Forces and Corps were also awarded “for their commitment during the pandemic” and “for their special collaboration in the fight against doping”, in the words of Alejandro Merino. Specifically, they were the following members of the National Police and the Civil Guard: Juan Pablo Armenteros, Juan José Castro, Sgt. Enrique López, Col. José Luis Ortega, Sgt. Miguel Ángel Espinosa Martínez, Lt. Santiago Rivera and Cte. Fernando Galiana.
For that first part of the ceremony, the Paralympic swimmer Teresa Perales had delivered the bronze plaques to the Mutualidad de Futbolistas Españoles, to the frontennis section of the Real Club Náutico de Tenerife and finally to the Fundación También.