José Manuel Franco: “Spain will continue to be an example of diversity, acceptance and integration in the world of sport”

The Sanitas Foundation, together with the CSD, COE and CPE, promotes the first Inclusive Games in history that will feature tests of the disciplines of triathlon, badminton, judo, taekwondo, swimming, athletics, wheelchair basketball, rugby and table tennis

Athletes such as Sara Andrés, Fernando Carro, Kim López, Felipe Reyes or Mireia Belmonte will be some of the participants in this event in which people with and without disabilities will compete for the first time together and according to inclusive regulations

The Inclusive Games will be held on October 7 at the High Performance Center (CAR) of Madrid of the Superior Sports Council

Madrid, September 22, 2021.- The Superior Sports Council (CSD) has today hosted the presentation of the first Inclusive Games, a sports event promoted by the Sanitas Foundation, together with the CSD, the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) and the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), which will bring together Olympic and Paralympic athletes under inclusive regulations.

For the president of the CSD, José Manuel Franco, “these Games are going to show us that inclusion is possible.” After showing his gratitude to the Sanitas Foundation for its decade of work in the promotion of inclusive sport in Spain, the Secretary of State recalled that the CSD will have a specific budget line for this sport included in the Social Plan within the 300 million euros of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Funds dedicated to the promotion of Spanish sport.

In addition, Franco added that the Preliminary Draft Sports Law in process “shows the government’s commitment to integration in sport”. “These investments and measures will ensure that Spain will continue to be an example of diversity, reception and integration in the world of sport. We know that these Games will be the first of many. And that will serve as an example and inspiration to bring inclusion to all orders of life,” he said.

The CSD, as a sign of its commitment to the sport of people with disabilities, has co-financed, for the first time, the prizes obtained by Paralympic athletes at the last Paralympic Games in Tokyo. In addition, the agency’s budgets for this year have seen an increase of 375% in the funds allocated to Spanish paralympic sport.

This investment effort has been completed with the approval of a Social Plan of Equality and Inclusion endowed with 77.8 million euros for the next 3 years, framed in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Funds dedicated to the promotion of sport.

For his part, the CEO of Sanitas and CEO of Bupa for Europe and Latin America, Iñaki Peralta, said that “at Sanitas we firmly believe that sport will be inclusive or not. For more than ten years, Fundación Sanitas has been working to spread the word about inclusion. Therefore, the fact that these Inclusive Games are held with the elite athletes of our country is an important goal and closes the Olympic year after the Olympic and Paralympic Games with a message of inclusion.”

“I want to emphasize that we have always had the support of the federations, as well as the Superior Sports Council, Spanish Olympic Committee and Spanish Paralympic Committee, which have accompanied us on this path,” explained Iñaki Peralta.

The president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, and his counterpart of the CPE, Miguel Carballeda, have also spoken. Blanco stressed that “today we show society that sport is a meeting point. We are all aware that we are different, because we are all unique. Differences enrich us and respect for ourselves and respect for others is the value that unites us. No matter how different each of us is, what matters is the magic that holds us together. Carballeda, for her part, wanted to say “thank you to Sanitas for having such important and daring dreams and allowing us and our athletes to dream together with them. The fact that Sanitas has joined the Olympians and paralympic is a message of overcoming and overcoming ability. It’s a message that is good for all of society to keep improving our world.”

Nine sports with inclusive regulations

At the presentation of the Inclusive Games, the disciplines that will be part of the program have been announced: triathlon, badminton, judo, taekwondo, swimming, athletics, wheelchair basketball, rugby and table tennis.

Nine sports that will feature some of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes with the largest number of awards in our country. Among them, the Olympians and Paralympics Sara Andrés (athletics) and Fernando Carro (athletics), Kim López (weight throwing), Mireia Belmonte (swimming) and Sergio Ibáñez (judo), who have participated in the last Tokyo Games.

The Inclusive Games will be held on October 7 at the High Performance Center (CAR) of Madrid of the CSD. Sportspeople will compete through adapted regulations that have been endorsed by the Health Foundation Chair of Studies on Inclusive Sport, in collaboration with the different sports federations.

The whole day can be followed live through the TV channels TVE - Teledeporte and La Other of Telemadrid, as well as via streaming on Marca TV and on the web: https://juegosinclusivos.sanitas.es/