The headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) in Madrid hosted this Thursday the fifth edition of the Sports Values Gala. Athletes Alejandro Valverde and Laia Palau received their award in the presence of the main sports authorities in the country, including the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, the general director of the Higher Sports Council, Alberto Soler, and the deputy minister of Community Sports from Madrid, Alberto Tomé.
The cyclist Alejandro Valverde, who announced his retirement at the age of 42 after two decades as a professional and having achieved a total of 133 victories, is the cyclist with the most medals in World Championship history, with a total of seven podium finishes. For his part, the basketball player Laia Palau He has also had an impressive career, with 33 titles at club level and a total of 13 medals with the national team, including three golds at the European Championships, one World silver and another silver at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
At the gala, the very young Naia Laso(Values Award for Projection); the Real Madrid C.F. (International Values Award), Andrea Fuentes (Extraordinary Values Award; the Ukrainian soccer player Yanha Malakhova (Special Values award; the Spanish U20 Women’s FOOTBALL team, (Female Selection Values Award); the Spanish men’s basketball team(Valores Selection Male Award), MotoGP (Valores Acontecimiento award), Anabel Medina (Coach Values Award) and Nahuel Carabana (Sports Gesture Values award).
