Barcelona’92, the 30th anniversary of the finest Olympic celebration in Spanish activity

Barcelona celebrates this Monday, July 25, the thirtieth anniversary of the celebration of the Olympic Game titles, the only kinds that Spain has hosted so considerably and that for many are nevertheless deemed the best in record, with the addition that they marked a ahead of and after in Spanish Olympic activity, which reached its ideal consequence to date with 22 medals.

Due to the fact the Oct 17, 1986, Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the Intercontinental Olympic Committee (IOC), announced that the Catalan capital was likely to host the initially Online games in Spanish territory, the town and the arranging committee, headed by Josep Miquel Abad, They labored challenging to put together an party that would not be neglected both of those at an organizational and sporting degree with initial-course infrastructures and a good legacy and an Olympic Village open to the sea. Even the mascot, Javier Mariscal’s ‘Cobi’, was impressive.

In small extra than five years, Barcelona was ready to welcome the a lot more than 9,300 athletes, 430 Spaniards, and the 169 international locations that competed, some innovative, this kind of as the Unified Staff that welcomed athletes from the Russian republics of the former USSR other than Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, a free of charge South Africa after the conclude of apartheid and with Nelson Mandela in the box of authorities, the younger and new Croatia, also separated from Yugoslavia, or the a short while ago unified Germany.

All of them paraded on July 25, 1992 at the Olympic Stadium in an unforgettable Opening Ceremony and a wonderfully crafted display that showcased Catalan and Mediterranean culture. The massive preliminary ‘Hello’, La Fura dels Bauls, Montserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury’s ‘Barcelona’, the Spanish parade led by the common-bearer Don Felipe de Borbón, and, previously mentioned all, the lights of the cauldron by signifies of the arrow Paralympic goalkeeper Antonio Rebollo ended up other of the most remembered times of the function that gave way to the days of competitiveness.

The progressive Olympic Sports Aid Strategy (ADO) bore fruit and Spain signed its ideal Olympic outcome, also sowing the seed for the long term. 22 medals, a selection that has not still been surpassed, with 13 gold, seven silver and two bronze medals adorned the medal desk of the hostess, considerably from the hundred of the Unified Workforce and the United States.

There were also resounding disappointments, these types of as that of the Spanish basketball team, marked by the notorious ‘Angolazo’, but Barcelona’92 consecrated the heroes who had been proclaimed Olympic champions, a crop that Andalusian José Manuel Moreno started in the kilometer time trial in monitor biking.

Sailing, a sport that did not generally fall short at the Games, confirmed its total likely by achieving a overall of five metals, four of them gold. José María Van Der Ploeg in Finn, Luis Doreste and Domingo Manrique in Traveling Dutchmann, Teresa Zabell and Patricia Guerra in the women’s 470 and Jordi Calafat and Francisco Sánchez in the men’s 470 savored Olympic glory, whilst Natalia Vía Dufresne took silver in the Europe class.

Montjüic vibrated superbly with athletics, with the golds of the walker Daniel Plaza and the center-distance runner Fermín Cacho. Never ahead of experienced Spain won gold in athletics and the very first, the pioneer, was Barcelona’s Plaza who, in the 20-kilometre walk take a look at, reached that to start with gold medal with a time of 1:21.45, beating Canadian Guillaume LeBlanc and Italian Giovanni De Benedictis.

Cacho, from Soriano, for his element, is remembered by lots of as the protagonist of the very best nationwide sporting success of Barcelona ’92. For the take a look at, for the stage, for how he entered celebrating the unthinkable feat until finally that minute, the Castilian-Leonese athlete entered the annals of record with his 3:40.12 that he surpassed, in spite of that ultimate rest, the Moroccan Rachid El Basir and the Qatari Mohamed Ahmed Sulaiman. A sluggish exam in which the method and the final dash of the Spaniard had been decisive.

That very same night time that Fermín Cacho received that remembered gold, the Spanish soccer staff was crowned in a packed Camp Nou. A staff plagued by youthful figures this kind of as Pep Guardiola, Kiko, Luis Enrique, Abelardo or Alfonso was conquering rivals until finally achieving a closing versus Poland, which was not determined right up until the 90th minute with a purpose from the Cadiz striker.

Also winning gold, almost from all odds, were the ‘golden girls’ of industry hockey, who defeat Germany in the closing, while judo contributed two with Miriam Blasco and Almudena Muñoz, the swimmer Martín López-Zubero crowned in the 200 backstroke and the archery team manufactured up of Juan Carlos Holgado, Alfonso Menéndez and Antonio Vázquez.

On the other hand, the 7 silver medals have been additional unfold out by sports activities with two for tennis, with the shocking Jordi Arrese, who was rewarded for his sacrificial preparation inspite of slipping to the Swiss Marc Rosset in five sets, and for the couple fashioned by Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez, who could not defeat the People in america Gigi Fernandez and Mary Joe Fernandez.

Antonio Peñalver in decathlon, Faustino Reyes in boxing, Carolina Pascual in rhythmic gymnastics, the aforementioned Natalia Through Dufresne in sailing and the men’s water polo workforce, which left one of the most bitter times with its unpleasant defeat in opposition to Italy, completed the silver medals.

Last but not least, there had been only two bronzes, for the athlete Javier García Chico in a shocking pole vault contest in which the excellent Sergey Bubka was eradicated by a few nulls, and for the tennis player Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

On August 9, a further imaginative Ceremony was in demand of expressing goodbye to the only and effective Olympic Games that Spain has hosted to the audio of the rumba of Los Manolos, Peret and Los Amaya, the greatest and most festive closing for an unforgettable occasion for activity Spanish and Barcelona.

THE PARALYMPICS, Another Good results

Scarcely a month later, the town as soon as again dressed in its ideal garments to host the Paralympic Video games, from September 3 to 14, another organizational and sporting accomplishment, with Spain placing on a wonderful functionality that allowed it to get far more than a hundred medals despite not by then even now have no assist plan like the Olympics.

Barcelona welcomed a total of 83 countries and 3,000 athletes, 289 of a massive Spanish delegation that hung a whole of 117 medals, surpassed only by the United States (175), Germany (171), the United Kingdom (128) and France (106). ).

Spanish athletes gained 34 gold medals, 22 of them thanks to athletics, which gained a whole of 48 and was, together with swimming (43), the biggest achievements pool, 31 silver and 42 bronze.

The athlete from Biscay Javier Conde, bodily disabled, gained four gold medals in the TS4 class (800 m, 1,500 m, 5,000 m and 10,000 m) and the athlete from Burgos Purificación Santamarta, visually impaired, emulated him with her four victories in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters of the T11 class.