King Juan; Madrid Olympic Bid ‘A National Project’

Spain’s King Juan Carlos Declares Madrid Olympic Bid ‘A National Project’

King Juan Carlos of Spain has described Madrid’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic & Paralympic Games as ‘a national project' which expresses the hopes and dreams of the Spanish people to organize an Olympics as unforgettable as Barcelona ‘92’ and presented it with a major award.

The King together with Queen Sofía, the Prince and Princess of the Asturias, the Infanta Elena and the Duke and Duchess of Palma, presided this week over the awards ceremony for the National Sports Prizes 2008 in the Royal Palace. Also present were Mercedes Cabrera, Minister for Education, Social Policy and Sport, and Jaime Lissavetzky, Secretary of State for Sport.

The King underlined how the sporting successes of 2008, the best year in the history of national sport for the country, demonstrated how much Spaniards can truly achieve when they participate ‘together, with rigour and much effort’.

In his speech at the annual prize-giving, brought together by the Higher Council for Sport in Spain to recognize athletes and institutions which have promoted sport, the King reaffirmed how the Crown was working ‘tirelessly and with every hope’ for Madrid to be elected host city for the 2016 Games at the IOC vote this autumn.

The Madrid Olympic bid and its City Hall richly deserved its Higher Council for Sport award, declared the monarch, which acknowledged its status as ‘a national project’.

King Juan Carlos congratulated the prize-winning sportspeople. “Exceptional men and women, you have prepared yourselves with tenacity and constancy to reach goals which seemed unattainable: you are role models for the whole of Spanish life and, as distinguished ambassadors, project the best image of Spain to the world.”

ENDS

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