On September 9, London bid a fond farewell to this year's Paralympic Games. A fact which, if you live in Spain, may well have escaped your notice. As fireworks exploded over the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, the closing ceremony of this major international sporting event was not covered by any of Spain's major TV stations. In a departure from previous years the 2012 Games did, however, receive comprehensive coverage on Teledeportes (although Spain's national sports channel, aimed at broadcasting news across the country, changed frequency in June 2011, and I doubt ours is the only household which still does not receive it.) A quick search for Paralympic news in the national and local … [Read more...] about Disability and Spain’s low-key Paralympics
London 2012
Madrid’s Olympic bid: third time lucky?
On February 14 this year, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti pulled the plug on Rome’s bid for the 2020 Olympics. “The government doesn't feel that it would be a responsible gesture, taking into consideration Italy's current financial state”, he said. “If we find ourselves today in such a difficult financial position it is because similar decisions were made by previous governments without having considered the resulting impact in the following years.” But despite Spain’s dire economic problems, Madrid has pushed ahead with its own bid. According to La Razón, Madrid’s bid for the 2012 Olympics cost €60 million. The bid for the 2016 games cost €44 million. This time the process will … [Read more...] about Madrid’s Olympic bid: third time lucky?
Spanish athletes drop the baton ahead of 2012
For any athlete, the unequivocal backing of the head of a national body charged with overseeing the sport to which you have dedicated your life is one of those things surely taken for granted: when King Canute had a hard time of it holding back the waves, a spin doctor with the gyrating power of the planets would have been required to assure the monarch’s subjects that all would come good in the return leg - perhaps a rematch staged under floodlights. It must then have come as some surprise to Spain’s athletes when the country’s Athletics Federation (RFEA) president, José María Odriozola, laid into his charges who had competed at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona. Odriozola’s … [Read more...] about Spanish athletes drop the baton ahead of 2012