“Historic” €1 billion Spanish Olympic Sports Boost Announced

September 18, 2021September 20, 2021 Madrid Metropolitan spain news, sports spain

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has announced an “historic” investment into Spanish sports in to build on the success of the Tokyo Olympics and be ready for the next games in Paris in 2024.

Speaking to Olympians and Paraolympians at a ceremony in at the Higher Council for Sports Complex in Madrid, Sanchez said they are “the best representatives our country could have”.

Their Tokyo results “confirm not only the strengths of our sport as a world power in many disciplines, but also give us good reason to believe that Spanish Olympic sport is on the verge of a new cycle of success and expansion,” he said.

The games saw Spain win 17 medals including 3 golds taking it to 22nd in the international medal table.

“Tokyo 2020 was the start of a new era in public policies to support Olympic and Paralympic sport in our country, with the largest budget ever allocated after Barcelona 92, 400 per cent more than in previous years.

“Between 2019 and 2023 we are going to dedicate one billion euros to sport, almost 40 per cent more than in the period 2015-2018. We are able to make this commitment because we are the only European country that has made sport one of the levers of economic recovery,” he added in reference to the sustainability commitment in the EU Recovery Package.

Sanchez also praised the sporting representatives as a “living expression of the richness and diversity of our country, and an example of being welcoming and of integration. A living example of the value of sport in the face of discrimination, intolerance and extremism.

“Know that there is a whole country behind you that admires you, supports you and looks up to you,” he said.