BarcelonaAn extraordinary assembly of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) will choose between the projects of Catalonia and Aragon for the 2030 Winter Games if finally the governments of the two communities do not agree, although a joint project is the A priority option for which the body will continue to work, as its president, Alejandro Blanco, explained today.
The regular annual assembly of the COE unanimously approved the continuation of talks to form a Pyrenean candidacy involving both Catalonia and Aragon. But he also agreed to present a project to the IOC in any case and, if there are two separate proposals, one from each community, let the COE assembly vote on what goes ahead. “This Committee has already chosen between Jaca and Granada a candidacy for the Winter Games and between Seville and Madrid for the Summer Games. This house has assumed this. But a choice between the two would be the second option. Let’s look for the first, that there is an agreement. I still believe in that, “Blanco said after the assembly.
After eleven meetings, the two governments have been unable to reach an agreement for a candidacy whose distribution of evidence and venue satisfies both parties. The latest proposal on paper places 54 events and 2,138 athletes in Aragon and 42 events and 2,608 athletes in Catalonia. 960 more participants would go outside Spain, in disciplines such as ski jumping, for which there are no facilities in the Pyrenees. “Today we have explained to the assembly how the meetings have gone. One thing is what is said and another is what has been said and what is seen in the videos. Here they are and everyone must take responsibility “He warned. “In the event that there is no agreement, we will not abandon the line of dialogue we have opened with the IOC. This opens the possibility for anyone to run. “.
In 2002 the COE assembly had to choose between Jaca and Granada as the Spanish candidate for the 2010 Winter Games and in 2003 it did the same with Seville and Madrid as candidates for the 2012 Summer Games. Madrid were the winners of these internal elections, although none of them later won the Olympic venue.
The visit of Thomas Bach
The President of the IOC, the German Thomas Bach, will visit Madrid this Wednesday to sign a memorandum related to the reception of refugees and get to know the Getafe sports center where they train. Blanco will have the opportunity to inform him about the decisions taken today around the 2030 candidacy and the next day, he said, he will resume talks in search of an agreement. “I will hold meetings with both of them to see if there is a possibility of rapprochement and, if there is, another meeting to settle differences. For me, hopefully an agreement will be reached. Which one? let them decide, “he said.
The government is calling for “speed” in the COE
The COE assembly was attended by Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC vice-president, who, according to Blanco, “agrees one hundred percent with the proposals.” From now on, the Committee will continue to talk to the central, Catalan and Aragonese governments. The Generalitat, in fact, has demanded “speed” from the COE to finalize the final proposal for the Winter Games. In the press conference following the weekly meeting of the Catalan Executive Council, Government spokeswoman Patrícia Plaja called on the COE to “speed up, speed up and be specific” in order to “clarify the scenario” on how this Olympic candidacy will definitely be.
