olympic games

Barcelona and Pyrenees to play key role in potential Games but public vote has to ratify candidacy

Pro-independence camp weighs up 10-year-long shared project, as Madrid displays sport diplomacy to confront fears of split

Catalan government survey finds that 3 in 4 residents in mountainous region are interested in hosting the Games

Original designer updates mascot in a special edition of 'Condé Nast Traveler' magazine

Urban planner was main person in charge of city's transformation before 1992 Olympics, including opening up to the sea

Mireia Belmonte, Gasol brothers, Saúl Craviotto and waterpolo teams among medal hopefuls

Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls confined at home look for space to train

Sports secretary agrees with one-year postponement of Tokyo 2020 as there’s no guarantee it will be safe by autumn

Measure to be taken if Spanish government does not “guarantee access” for Balkan country sportspeople; winter games bid in Catalonia at stake

Amid political clash over independence referendum, King Felipe VI praises institutional “joint effort” in 1992

The main architect of the great transformation the city experienced a quarter of a century ago says opening up to the sea was the principal feat

Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 made it impossible for 5,000 athletes to take part in People’s Games planned for the city

The joint bid between Andorra la Vella, the capital of the Principality of Andorra and the closest Catalan town, La Seu d’Urgell, to organize the 2018 Special Olympics Games has been successful. The Mayor of Andorra la Vella, Marc Pons, and the mayor of La Seu d’Urgell, Albert Batalla, made this public last week. The two mayors said the games would be a challenge and there will promote the two cities as sports centers and towns of solidarity. The event will be held from the 4th to 7th of October and will bring more than 2,400 people from more than seventeen international delegations. This will be the first time that the Special Olympic Games, the most important international sports event for athletes with mental disability, will be held in the Pyrenees.

Barcelona – The Pyrenees-based candidacy to host the 2026 Winter Olympics has been rescinded by its own promoters. According to Barcelona’s deputy mayor, Jordi Collboni, the decision responded “to the current social and economic circumstances not only in Barcelona but in the whole country”. Collboni also emphasized Barcelona’s image as an Olympic city, won in 1992, and rejected any eventual “false move” which might affect its good reputation. “If we submit an application, we want it to be the winning option,” he said and admitted that in order for that to be true the candidacy “must have full political and social support”. The conclusions emerged from the committee responsible for analysing the candidacy, backed by the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’, Left wing pro-independence ERC and the Democratic Group.

On a day like today, 30 years ago, Barcelona achieved its long-time dream to become the venue for the Olympic Games. It was 1.30 pm on Friday the 17^th of October 1986 when the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, announced that Barcelona had just won the nomination to host the major sports event in 1992. The proclamation was followed by an outburst of joy in Catalonia and also in the Palais de Beaulie of Lausanne, the venue of the IOC session. Barcelona won the race over five other cities, Paris, Brisbane (Australia), Belgrade, Amsterdam and Birmingham, and by doing so it gained a place on the world map, undertook a major urban transformation and breathed into its citizens a feeling of great pride in their city.