CAR celebrates the start of the 21-22 season and the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic cycle
October 6, 2021
The Sant Cugat High Performance Center held a small event for for the season’s start yesterday, as in previous years, but this year it wanted to make a lot more sense.
With the celebration of the Paralympic and Paralympic Games this summer, a cycle has closed, that of Tokyo 2020, and we are now starting the cycle of Paris2024. It has been a cycle, as we all know, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, in which, for the first time, the Center had to temporarily close its doors.
At the beginning of the meeting, we remembered together the bad moments lived due to the pandemic and the personal losses suffered, such as the death of coach Llorenç Cassi. The director of the CAR, Ramon Terrassa, addressed to the audience saying “we wanted to meet the CAR family, that together we have overcome the great crisis of our lives.”
Terrassa wanted to emphasize that, “now that we are getting out of it, we must be aware that we have done it together, with the collaboration of all, and therefore I thank you each and every one.” In these times, sixty cases of Covid-19 have been detected in the CAR, and more than 3,000 PCR and antigen tests have been performed. And despite the complicated situation, 160 athletes have prepared in the Centre for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, some throughout the season, others for a few months or a few weeks.
Afterwards, we went on to pay tribute to the Olympic and Paralympic athletes who have won medals and diplomas at the Games, with the presence and applause for them, one by one, starting with the Olympic champion, Alberto Ginés, and the Paralympic champion Yassine Ouhdadi (this last could not be present).
Then the artistic swimmer Txell Mas took the floor, representing the Olympic athletes, who wanted to convey their gratitude to the staff of the CAR, who in a very hard season created the environment to be able to prepare for the Games, train quiet, “and achieve our dream, which during lockdown we see far away.”
Later, the table tennis player Jordi Morales, representing the Paralympic athletes, wanted to highlight the role of all the staff and collaborators of the CAR already during the lockdown, in which they managed to make the athletes “not feel alone in the hardest moments “. He also wanted to reflect that, “although in high-level sport not much change is usually made in the way we work, if it is considered to work, this pandemic has forced us all to do the things of another way, and this house (the CAR) has shown once again that in the face of difficulties, what it does is find opportunities. ”
Then it was the turn of Jaume Marcé, paraswimming coach, recently chosen as the best coach by the Spanish Association of Swimming Coaches, representing all coaches. He wanted to address the young people who are joining the CAR as athletes this year, and taking as an example the situation experienced and that despite everything the sporting goals have been achieved, he told them that ” do not stop dreaming, nor fight for your dreams “.
Before the end of the event, we could not miss the opportunity to pay tribute to a historical figure such as Jesus Angel -Chuso- Garcia Bragado, eight-time Olympian, who also received a standing ovation. Chuso, who also wanted to speak, recalled that he has been linked to the Center since he began his career, at Barcelona’92 Games. Bragado wanted to thank the celebration of the event, and also encouraged the young people: “many of you have a career ahead of you here, and the chance to win many medals in the future.”
Finally, Ramon Terrassa closed the meeting with the recognition of the CAR staff of all departments, coaches, collaborators and workers of subcontracted companies, who both during the lockdown and after, have worked with maximum involvement, making possible the preparation in the best possible conditions and that the Center was a safe environment. With applause to all of them and the family photo, Terrassa ended the event, “starting to think about the Paris Games, which are very close.”
