The Minister of Culture and Sports, miquel iceta, has been convinced this Wednesday that a solo candidacy for the 2030 Winter Olympics is an “impossible scenario” before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when it comes to achieving results. Iceta, who has made these statements to the media during a visit to the Teruel municipality of Mora de Rubielos, has opted for a “powerful” candidacy from Spain and the Pyrenees, with which both Aragon and Catalonia are “totally” committed. .
He has been convinced that the Olympic Games are a “very important” opportunity for the entire Pyrenean territory, and has expressed his confidence in the steps being taken by the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) in search of a solution that satisfies all parties involved.
After referring to the candidacy as a “scenario of opportunities”, he stressed that the one presented from Spain, according to the conversations held by himself in Tokyo and Beijing, has “many possibilities” of winning.
He has warned, however, that one of the conditions demanded from the IOC is that all the parties involved are united, because, he added, “when there is a lot of noise around a candidacy, the possibilities decline”.
Find a solution
In this regard, he recalled that the IOC received a letter signed by the Presidents of the Spanish, Aragonese and Catalan Governments, as well as by the COE to inform of the presentation of a candidacy for the 2030 Winter Olympics, therefore, in his opinion, “now they would not understand that someone would get off the hook.”
Iceta has demanded both the leaders of Aragon and those of Catalonia to support the COE in search of a solution, which, he has underlined, “I am convinced that it will be found”.
“There is no more powerful opportunity than a winter Olympics”, assured the minister after warning that both the inhabitants of the Catalan and Aragonese Pyrenees are waiting for an opportunity so that their territory “is not an area that we only remember a short time a year, when there is snow.
He highlighted in his speech that the candidacy is going to have “rivals of great importance” that have already hosted the Winter Olympics, although he specified in the next line that the “strength” of the one in the Pyrenees is that Spain has not held yet.
“Balanced and together”
In his speech to the media, he explained that there is no set deadline to formalize a “balanced and joint” candidacy for the Pyrenees, but he stressed at the same time that “we are all aware that before the summer we should have achieved that consensus” .
In his opinion, it is necessary that all the parties involved in the candidacy feel “comfortable and committed” and that they understand at the same time that if “no one wants to move” from their current positions, “there will be no photography”.
Iceta has warned, in relation to the aspirations of Aragon and Catalonia to host tests in all their stations, that budgetary restrictions prevent multiplying the Olympic venues to provide them with all the infrastructure and facilities required by the IOC.
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“In the end, surely because of the difficulties we’ve had to intertwine it, I think we’ll have a magnificent candidacy”, added Iceta, who said that “we have to dazzle the IOC”.
In his opinion, “we cannot afford not to reach an agreement so that in the end they tell us from the IOC that you will present yourself at another time.”