MADRID, 10 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Royal Spanish Winter Sports Federation (RFEDI), four sports federations for people with disabilities (Blind-FEDC; Physical Disability-FEDDF; Intellectual Disability-FEDDI and Cerebral Palsy-FEDPC); and the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) have signed an agreement to advance in the integration of the modalities practiced by people with disabilities in the RFEDI.
The presidents of the five federations, May Peus (RFEDI), Ángel Luis Gómez (FEDC), Enrique Álvarez (FEDDF), Marcos Herrero (FEDDI), Julián Rebollo (FEDPC) and that of the CPE, Miguel Carballeda, signed the agreement that made public at the Higher Sports Council (CSD), in the presence of its president, José Manuel Franco.
During the event, the inclusive Spanish Cups of the Jesús Serra Foundation for alpine skiing were also presented, which in 2023 will have tests in Baqueira Beret, Sierra Nevada and Formigal; Movistar from SBX-SX and Iberdrola from cross-country skiing.
All classes of Paralympic athletes will participate in them, as well as the children’s categories under-10, under-12 and the Masters of athletes without disabilities to have a national competition where visibility can be given to the inclusion and normalization of sports of winter.
The new agreement sets the guidelines for the integration process of athletes with disabilities in the RFEDI in the coming years, after said integration has already taken place at an international level, becoming dependent on the International Federation of Ski (FIS) from the International Paralympic Committee (CPI).
The first step foreseen in this agreement is that the RFEDI, as a member of the FIS, assumes all the processing of international licenses and registrations. Likewise, a joint Management Committee is created between the five federations and the CPE that will decide the steps to be taken in the integration process.
Traditionally, Paralympic sport has been nurtured by multi-sport federations of people with disabilities. Although this issue began to be debated in the Anglo-Saxon countries in the eighties of the last century, it was not until 2004 when the Extraordinary General Assembly of the International Paralympic Committee approved a strategic direction to favor the integration of the different Paralympic sports in the Olympic federations.
Of the 28 sports that are held at the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, badminton, cycling, curling, horse riding, canoeing, rowing, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, archery and triathlon.
These international federations organize and manage the modalities practiced by people with disabilities in their sport. Therefore, in order to compete in the international championships they organize, athletes must have a license from the corresponding federation. These entities, in turn, give instructions to their national federations to proceed to integrate the modalities in each country.
In Spain, 11 integrated sports federations present at the Paralympic Games are represented at the General Assembly of the Spanish Paralympic Committee: badminton, cycling, ice sports, horse riding, canoeing, rowing, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, archery and triathlon .