BARCELONA, 25 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), José Manuel Franco, presented this Tuesday in Barcelona the Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit to Sylvana Mestre for her more than twenty-five years dedicated to promoting adapted sports and training of Paralympic athletes at national and international level.
Born in the Catalan capital in 1956, after her experience as a ski runner on the national team, Mestre discovered Paralympic sport as a guide and coach for blind athletes.
Later, she has served as national selector for the Paralympic alpine ski team, president of the International Paralympic Alpine Ski Federation and member of the Alpine Ski Technical Committee of the International Paralympic Committee, among other positions.
He returned to the basics of adapted sports, founding in 2008, together with Mariona Masdemont, the social company Play & Train, dedicated to sports programs for people with disabilities and their families.
Due to her involvement with adapted sports and inclusion, in 2015 she was awarded the Paralympic Order, the highest distinction of the International Paralympic Committee.
Among many other merits, she is endorsed by the results of the athletes she has trained, and who have won 15 medals at the Paralympic Games and 30 at the World Championships.
She currently manages her social enterprise and is a consultant for the Development of Snow Sports at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
During the award ceremony, held at the Government Delegation in Catalonia, José Manuel Franco highlighted Mestre’s more than twenty-five years of “positively influencing the personal development of athletes with disabilities”, which is why “it is fair” that the Government of Spain recognizes the importance of his figure “in the construction of more inclusive societies”.
“I want you to know that this Higher Sports Council is proud of your contribution to the world of sports,” concluded the Secretary of State.
For his part, the sub-delegate of the Government in Barcelona, Carlos Prieto, highlighted “the honor that this Delegation entails when a decoration is awarded to a figure who has eliminated barriers and self-imposed limitations on people with disabilities, who have been made to enjoy of the sport and make many of them Paralympic and world champions.