MADRID, 31 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former basketball player Pau Gasol, the former tennis player Manolo Santana, posthumously, the soccer player Sergio Ramos and the former athlete Ruth Beitia, among others, received the Olympic orders from the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) this Wednesday in a ceremony held in the Auditorium Alfredo Goyeneche in Madrid.
These distinctions recognize people and entities that have stood out for their Olympian actions, for their outstanding sports results or for their special services to the Olympic Movement and to sport.
The president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, has delivered the Olympic plaques to clubs, federations, and sports entities for being “the axis of Spanish sport.”
The winners have been CA Osasuna, the Sociedad Sierra Nevada Sports Club, the Juventud Atlética Sabadell Club, the UR Kirolak Nautical Sports Society, the Royal Tennis Club of Barcelona, the Spanish Boxing Federation, the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation, the Tourist Ski and Mountain Resorts (ATUDEM), the Real Club de Cultura Covadonga, the City Council of Antequera and the Provincial Council of Alicante.
Subsequently, the Olympic orders have been delivered to the presidents of the Spanish motor boating federations, José Miguel Martínez; greyhounds, Luis Ángel Vegas; cycling, José Luis López Cerrón; ice sports, Frank González; and handball, Francisco V. Blázquez.
Lastly, Olympic orders have been awarded to athletes and coaches whom the president of the COE has called “heroes”. “I am convinced that no Olympic committee in the world can presume to give an Olympic order to athletes of such importance as you. You are unique and unrepeatable,” declared Blanco.
The winners have been the former women’s national basketball coach Lucas Mondelo; the national basketball coach, Sergio Scariolo; the tennis player Manuel Santana, taken in by his widow, Claudia Rodríguez; former basketball player Pau Gasol; the skeleton expilot
Ander Mirambell; athlete Orlando Ortega; the former artistic swimmer
Gemma Mengual; Amazon Beatriz Ferrer-Salat; the footballer
Sergio Ramos; former handball player Raúl Entrerríos; the basketball player Alba Torrens and the former Olympic high jump champion Ruth Beitia.
“Thanks to the president and the COE because in that persevering, falling and getting up we always have your support and your hand to lift us back towards our dreams,” said Beitia as spokesperson for the awardees.
Pau Gasol, current Ambassador of the FIBA World Cup, thanked the recognition by committing to “continue working for clean sport”, while Sergio Scariolo said from Italy that the award is a source of great pride and that he hopes “to be able to experience” his quarters Games in Paris 2024.