MADRID, 3 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE), Miguel Carballeda, sees “really good feelings” less than a year before the celebration of the Paralympic Games in Paris after a very successful summer and which makes it clear that national athletes “They are sufficiently prepared to go give everything and achieve everything” in an appointment for which, given its proximity to Spain, it also encourages people to reserve a few days of vacation to visit “one of the most amazing cities in the world and find the sport of greater overcoming”.
“I think the sensations are really good after the swimming, athletics and cycling World Cups, and also for getting on the podium in the 10 sports of that European Multi in various modalities. That makes us think that our team is fine, although we are going to to see how the others are,” Carballeda said in an interview with Europa Press when there is less than a year left for the official opening on August 28 of the Games in the French capital.
The leader tries to “be humble” and “have his feet on the ground” in view of what may happen next year in the French capital. “You have to think that the important thing is to stay because the competition is getting tougher and there are countries that have a lot of support and logically have the goal of winning more medals,” he warned.
However, the president of the CPE sees Spain as one of those countries willing to shine. “Our athletes are in the best conditions and I think they have the best professionals and the best material. The Committee works for it and I think the results can lead us to have joy again”, he wished.
“We are in a time of drought, but the rain of good results from the Paralympic team is there, and they have also been followed thanks to the media and so once again Spanish society has been happy this summer every time they have been told in the news reports the results of our Paralympic team around the world. I think we are normalizing things and that we are going to put the icing on the cake in Paris together,” added Carballeda.
And these good results are produced within a more compressed calendar because it is a cycle of only three years, “an adaptation that alters because today everything is absolutely programmed”. “But Paralympic sport is a permanent adaptation in life and this will not be an obstacle for our team and for our sport. It is enough to see the results in recent days and how they have shown that they are sufficiently prepared to go and give everything now achieve it all in Paris”, he underlined.
“RICARDO TEN IS AN EXAMPLE OF MANY THINGS”
Among those athletes who have shone this summer is Ricardo Ten, winner of five medals, four golds and one silver, at the Glasgow Cycling World Championships (Scotland). “He is an example of many things, of improvement in life and in sport, but it is also a transformation of an athlete, who has been everything in the world of swimming, and who has adapted to a change of sport when The right age has come. He is still a figure and he has shown it again”, he reflected on the Valencian, winner of six Paralympic medals as a swimmer.
The leader recalls that “there are not many cases” like that of the now cyclist, something that must be added “also to the adaptation process of a Paralympic athlete with a disability.” “In society, in the times we live in, there is a lot of selfishness, a lot of weirdness and a lot of foolishness, and I think you need examples of improvement like Ricardo’s,” he asserted.
The president of the CPE does not hide that time has passed “quickly”, especially “after Tokyo, with the events forced by the pandemic.” “Now, we try to recover naturalness, which is something we missed a lot,” he said, hoping to experience one.
“Paris is Paris, and it has possibilities, and I think that we also need to communicate to the world, after some events that we remember well in the world of football, that they have an important organizational capacity, that they are safe, that they continue to be a benchmark in Europe and that we can be calm”, he stressed in relation to the image given during the 2022 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool.
The leader is clear that “everyone” needs to experience “exemplary Games that activate social, ecological and people commitment”, and that for this it is important to use “one of the leading cities in the world”. “Paris is an icon of the world of travel, one of the most visited cities, and I think its intention is to get the most out of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are a unique opportunity to position a city and I would say a continent like Europe who needs it a lot,” he explained.
ENCOURAGES TO GO TO PARIS TO SEE “THE SPORT OF GREATEST IMPROVEMENT”
Miguel Carballeda celebrates that it is returning to normality, “that vital need of the human being” and that people have moved this summer “wherever”, which he took the opportunity to send a message for next year’s holidays from the Spanish people. “Paris is going to be the definitive turning point, it is ‘a stone’s throw away’, and I think that the Spanish should start thinking about next summer leaving a few days in September to get closer and apart from seeing one of the most amazing cities in the world, find the sport of greatest improvement with Paralympic athletes and encourage ours”, he said.
Miguel Carballeda celebrates that Spanish society now “knows and recognizes” athletes with disabilities and that they “value” their performances because “they know that this is even more difficult”. “This also supposes an advance in society’s commitment to the social aspect, which is very necessary, and the recognition of people who, having much more difficulties, are capable of facing this challenge and defending their country,” he said.
For this reason, they do not hide that they are “worried” about not yet having confirmation from RTVE that they are going to broadcast the Paralympic Games in Paris. “Hopefully we will be getting news from Televisión Española and we can see them on television, if possible on public television. It is something very important and very necessary because we save ourselves a lot of speeches in the world of disabilities and that has helped us to ensure that Spain be a country that is aware, supportive and aware that there are four and a half million people with disabilities who, thanks to Paralympic sport, are also known a little more”, he declared.