Former swimmer Jennifer Pareja will be the new general director of the body that coordinates the Olympic scholarships
Iceta: “Olympic magic exists and it’s time to revive it”
MADRID, 12 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of Spain, the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) and RTVE communicated this Thursday to the companies that have been part of the ADO Plan their intention to “revitalize” this program before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in which Spanish sport aspires to break down the barrier of 22 medals from Barcelona’92.
In a meeting called by the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, at the headquarters of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), the companies linked to the support program for Olympic athletes learned of the will of the Government, the COE and RTVE to relaunch this program.
In addition, it was announced that former swimmer Jennifer Pareja, until now adviser to the president of the CSD, José Manuel Franco, will assume the general direction of the ADO Plan in the coming days. Voted the best water polo player in the world in 2013, Pareja was silver medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, world champion at the 2013 World Cup in Barcelona, and European champion in 2014. For the past four and a half years, she has been a consultant in the Cabinet of the Presidency of the CSD.
During his speech, Minister Iceta thanked the Spanish companies that have supported the ADO Plan from 1986 to the present for their “commitment to the development of Spanish Olympic sport” and their contribution to a program that guarantees the preparation of Spanish athletes from Barcelona in 1992.
“ADO emerged at that time as an expression of the collaboration of the private sector with sport, but we are aware that a new impetus is needed. The Olympic magic exists, but we must revive it and we will do it hand in hand with Jennifer Pareja,” he said. iceta.
The minister explained to the companies that, in this new stage, the ADO Plan will explore “new visibility opportunities for companies” and will be improved so that it “recovers the vigor it has traditionally had.”
Iceta was accompanied by the president of the CSD, José Manuel Franco; the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco; and by the president of RTVE, Elena Sánchez.
Alejandro Blanco thanked the Government for its decision “to have taken up this initiative with determination” and valued the business contribution at the “excellent level” that sport is exhibiting in Spain. “It would be unthinkable to think about sports results without this program, which allows athletes to prepare their Olympic dream with guarantees,” Blanco said.
Along the same lines, the president of the CSD, José Manuel Franco, stressed that the Council will be committed to “turning the ADO Plan into a sports-country program”, in which “commercial assets can be exploited from the perspective of 2023 “.
For her part, Elena Sánchez showed RTVE’s interest in “continuing to deepen the formula of making an attractive program” for companies.