Blanco: "We only want clean medals"

Held under the slogan Companies for Clean Sport, the fifth Marca/Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) Forum will, in the words of COE and Madrid 2020 Bid President Alejandro Blanco, "be remembered as one of the most important". The Forum raised the international profile of the bid even higher by emphasising the firm commitment of Spanish enterprise to clean and honest sport.

Blanco said that the Madrid 2020 Bid wanted to do things right because, as he put it, "we are only interested in clean medals". The bid chief also drew attention to the considerable efforts being made by a number of organisations and companies to protect the image of our athletes, and who are supporting elite sport through events such as the Forum.

"It is up to civil society to drive the country forward, while it is governments that make the laws and companies that sponsor elite sport," he said. "We have companies here who, in supporting clean sport, are not looking for a financial return but a social one. Words cannot express how grateful we are for their support and the values they are projecting. That is another reason why we can say the Madrid 2020 Bid is founded on values."

Marca editor Oscar Campillo said he hoped the series of forums would result in their objective of bringing the 2020 Olympic Games to Madrid. He expressed his delight that this last forum was attended by a number of large firms who have been sponsoring sport and helping to make the continued success of Spain’s athletes possible. Among these companies are Iberdrola, represented at the event by Corporate Resources Director Fernando Becker; Seguros Pelayo, with vice-president Severino Martinez appearing on their behalf; and Coca-Cola España, represented by its CEO Marcos de Quinto. All three spoke of Madrid 2020’s commitment to drugs-free sport as a hallmark of the bid.

Before the start of the Forum the representatives of some of the companies involved in the clean sport initiative lined up for a group photograph. The following companies have all joined the initiative: DKV Seguros, Coca-Cola, Iberdrola, Adecco, Cepsa, Seguros Pelayo, Gaes, Codere, Heineken España, Tau Cerámica, Liberty Seguros, Asisa, Seur, Confectionary Holding, Central Lechera Asturiana, BBVA, Plátano de Canarias, Zurich Seguros, Santander, Iberia, Grupo Catalana Occidente, Renault España, La Zaragozana, Mondo, Kyocera, Caixabank and Ferrero.

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