“A crisis is the right time to give people opportunities”
MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the AXA Foundation, Olga Sánchez, is clear that Spanish Paralympic sport “has all the future in the world”, and considers that being the main sponsor of the AXA Paralympic Swimming League is the “logical consequence” after creating the Team of Swimming Promises, at the same time that it maintains that moments of economic crisis are “the most opportune” to support this type of project.
“We have just won a few medals at the Tokyo Games, we are preparing for Paris 2024, and AXA is French and we have our headquarters there. Spanish Paralympic sport has all the future in the world, they are people with such a great capacity for effort … They are an example to follow,” Sánchez confessed in an interview with Europa Press.
The insurance company is the main sponsor of the new AXA Paralympic Swimming League, a competition to spread equal opportunities and inclusion, which aims to be the step to top-level sport for many athletes with great qualities. Thus, swimmers from different federations will participate in a single classification by points, regardless of the type and degree of disability of each of them.
“This AXA Paralympic Swimming League is the logical consequence, since we had worked on the Promises team. And that promise grows and we believe that we had to continue supporting it, and the next step is high competition. I think the League visualizes all that effort and puts it at a level so that society understands and sees that these athletes are really just that, athletes”, explained the directive.
This new competition is the next step that AXA has decided to support, after the insurer, together with the Spanish Paralympic Committee, launched the AXA Promises Paralympic Swimming Team project in 2010, which is now “at a of maturity”.
“Through some competitions we select people who surpass certain marks, point out ways, and we bet on them to develop them and see that they really have the aptitude to reach this other League”, Sánchez underlined.
Blind swimmers, those with physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities or cerebral palsy who do not have experience in top competition can participate in this program. The Rio 2016 Games confirmed the success of the initiative, when its six classified athletes achieved two golds, one silver and three bronzes.
“We have been there for many years and we are very happy, Nuria Marquès and María Delgado (Paralympic medalists) have been promises, the team is a source of pride. They are boys and girls who you give the opportunity to grow in their purpose and you see how they improve , that is the team of promises”, affirmed the president of the AXA Foundation.
“WE ARE AN EMOTIONAL SPONSOR, WE BELIEVE IN THE PROJECT”
AXA is already a regular sponsor for Paralympic sport and it is for two main reasons, pointed out Olga Sánchez. “The first is that as an insurer we are very close to people with disabilities, as a result of traffic accidents, and seeing how these people seek a purpose in their lives through sport is fundamental. And second, because of the values, overcoming, effort live with passion in what they believe,” he said.
“The figure of the sponsor is key, because we are not only an economic sponsor, but also an emotional sponsor. We go to the competitions, we are with them, the athletes are images of our brand, we believe in the project and we give our support,” he explained.
And his two big projects came at very difficult economic times for companies due to the crisis a few years ago and now due to the pandemic, although that was not an obstacle. “In a crisis it costs more, obviously, because companies have cut costs and that is a reality. But this goes beyond cutting costs for us. I think that in a crisis, or behind a crisis, it is the right time of giving people opportunities and giving them a reason to exist. Therefore, we will always be there”, he stressed.
Finally, Olga Sánchez remembers one of her thoughts when she accepted the position of president of the AXA Foundation. “I was surprised by the non-discrimination of sex in Paralympic sport. What matters here are the points you have, which is what really makes you play your role, here there are no men and women, there are people who excel. And that is a such a powerful message to society… It’s diversity and it’s inclusion,” he said.