Open city, sport for all
- Creation of a high performance paralympic sports centre, constructed by Madrid city council, offers new opportunities for sporting development
- Madrid is projecting the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a unique 60-day event, beginning with the day the Olympic Village opens and concluding the day it closes
- The installations, accommodation and transport have been designed for mass use and enjoyment – including spectators and athletes, those with and without disabilities
Madrid, 7 May 2009 - “The Madrid Games will be a unique sporting event in which everyone will feel involved without exception or exclusion,” were the words used by Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón to introduce the session ‘Open city, sport for all’ which included Miguel Carballeda, President of the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE), Miguel Sagarra, Secretary General of the CPE, and Teresa Perales, Paralympic medallist.
The presenters
The Madrid candidacy is unique, exceptional and will bring about the finest Paralympic Games ever. This would be thanks to excellent organization, exemplary installations and the entire dedication of both the city and state in a joint project.
The President of the Spanish Paralympic Committee was clearly convinced that with the Spanish capital as the host city for the 2016 event, “we would be able to celebrate the greatest Paralympic Games ever”. He also outlined how Madrid was projecting the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a unique 60-day event, beginning on the day the Olympic Village opens and concluding the day it closes. This unity was equally represented in the configuration of the organizing committee which had a distinctive structure for both events.
Carballeda noted how the Olympic and Paralympic spirit “teaches us to practise sport without discriminating against anyone and to understand one another through friendship, solidarity and fair play. This is exactly the idea of the Games being enjoyed by everyone, particularly through the participation of both Olympic and Paralympic athletes.”
Design and installations
The Paralympic Games project is using a transversal concept in design and build. The installations, accommodation and transport have been designed for mass use and enjoyment – including spectators and athletes, those with and without disabilities alike – to bring life to the slogan ‘the Games with the Human Touch’. The ‘design for all’ concept has been worked up by the CPE in association with Madrid 2016 to ensure complete integration into the whole bid and alongside the Madrid 2016 Foundation.
Madrid is already a city with considerably advanced access routes and facilities and this will be a further step in achieving its plan of access for all. This is a city that believes in equality of opportunity, enjoyment, employment and access.
Legacy of opportunities
Celebrating the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Madrid would leave the city with a legacy of opportunities for further integration of all despite their physical state or ability, and serve as an example for future generations.
In the same way the city will maintain the installations and infrastructure for ongoing use. Amongst those Carballeda drew particular attention to the high performance Paralympic sports centre. World pioneering and constructed by Madrid City Council, it will offer new opportunities not only to Paralympic athletes but to all with any form of disability.
The event would change the accommodation, installations and infrastructure of the Spanish capital and, most importantly, change perceptions of disabled facilities throughout the world. Carballeda concluded by saying how, thanks to the Paralympic Games, Madrid would become “a mirror for cities throughout Spain and the rest of the world”.
Compact and accessible Games
Secretary General of the Spanish Olympic Committee Miguel Sagarra spoke of confidence in the Madrid candidacy to “deal with all aspects bar none” in ensuring Paralympic athletes could compete at the highest possible standards in facilities of a quality they have come to expect. “Everything is offered throughout this celebration of the Olympic Games, for spectators, the media, indeed society as a whole, to be able to enter fully into the enjoyment of the display of these athletes who forget the word ‘disability’ and think only of sport.”
The Paralympic Games will be the most compact and most accessible ever, with Madrid exhibiting the most impressive map of facilities to date: 15 sports in the Central Zone, and 4 in the River Zone. 85% of the athletes will compete and live within a 5km radius, with 75% of all installations being situated within the same radius and the Olympic Village being 500m from the main stadium. Accessibility criteria will be fully compliant with law.
Transport and accommodation
With regard to transport, Sagarra emphasized how the network had been designed to offer maximum accessibility. A commission would be responsible for co-ordinating all forms of transport with a view to guaranteeing maximum efficient usage for all, including National Paralympic Committee delegations, Games representatives, Paralympic athletes’ supporters and sporting federations.
The Olympic Village would have a double function: accommodation for athletes and representatives of the Games, and accommodation for technical personnel. All installations have been designed to guarantee full access, as much to participants as to future users, in accordance with the legacy and promise of Madrid.
Unique proposal
Another relevant characteristic is a unique organizing committee. This is a unique structure which will integrate for the purpose of the Olympic and Paralympic Games a Paralympic Division with the participation of the Spanish Paralympic Committee and the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games.
Financially, Sagarra stressed how the candidature’s committee had prepared a unique proposal with a specific programme for the Paralympic Games. “This is fully financed, backed and solid plan with governmental endorsement an the authority to draw down on a $40m facility in the event of any deficit,” he said. Without doubt, Madrid 2016 has promised to work closely with the Spanish Paralympic Committee in obtaining the maximum private finance possible and guaranteeing a legacy of potential sponsors for the ongoing development of Paralympic sport in Spain.
Experience and sensitivity
The promise of Madrid’s commitment to Paralympic sport is borne out in the 65 international the country has staged during the last eleven years, 25% of which took place in Madrid.
Finally, Sagarra outlined how he disability rights movement in Spain was both advanced and played an important role not only in the help I gave to individual families but also in the positive messages it gave throughout Spanish society with “the celebration of the Paralympic Games in Madrid having no greater effect than bringing all this front-of-mind in the public conscience.”
Best case scenario
The Paralympic swimmer Teresa Perales illustrated how for an athlete the Paralympic Games was the highest expression of sport. Perales, member of the national Spanish team since 1998, has participated in three Olympics: Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and Beijing 2008 (three golds, one silver, one bronze). She affirmed how competing days after official inauguration of the Games was something unique. “It’s an apprenticeship that goes beyond medals. Each minute is a vital lesson that stays with you forever.”
As an active sportswoman and representative of athletes on the International Paralympic Committee, Teresa Perales considers herself more than aware of what athletes expect from the Games. “Installations which are practical, adequate, and help people achieve their goals; a sporting spectacle; and great people who are right there, up in front, supporting them. Of course, the Madrid bid offers all of these things.”
“People of Madrid and the rest of my country…” the swimmer added. “We want so much to bring the 2016 Games to Madrid and its highest point yet, and we have been working for so long towards that aim.” She concluded: “Have no doubt about it. The Madrid 2016 Games will be the best-case scenario for other athletes to come here and make their dreams come true, and change their lives forever.”
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