The ADO will distribute 263 scholarships to athletes for a total of more than 5 million

Javier Gómez Noya has been awarded a scholarship with 60.000 Euros, which is the maximum amount of the Group's M1 level.

Miguel Cardenal, Secretary of State for Sport, and Alejandro Blanco, President of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), announced today the amount of the 2012 ADO Plan, which will be 5.397.000 euros for athletes, divided into 263 scholarships .

To this amount allocated to athletes, which represents 54,73 percent of the total amount, we must add 1.245.000 for 69 coaches and another 2.210.000 for special plans, as agreed by the board of directors of the Olympic Sports Association (ADO). ).

The maximum amount is that of level M1 of Group I, which is endowed with 60.000 euros. José Antonio Hermida (MTB cycling), Carlos Pérez Rial (canoeing), Joel González (taekwondo), Juan José Aramburu and Alberto Fernández (Olympic shooting), Javier Gómez Noya (triathlon), Fernando Echavarri, Xabier Fernández, Iker will benefit from it. Martínez, Berta Betanzos and Tamara Pacheco (sailing), and Blanca Manchón (windsurfing).

The lowest amount, with scales between 30.000 and 9.000 euros, is that of Group III for team sports such as basketball, handball, soccer, hockey, ice hockey, volleyball and water polo.

Miguel Cardenal highlighted that these ADO scholarships place Spain "at the head of the select group of those chosen in terms of participation in the Olympic Games."

“The ADO program is very important to us. We have a large representation of individual athletes and teams that we hope will have a good performance in London. We are closing a cycle in terms of the allocation of amounts for the London Olympics and credit must also be attributed to those who have had this responsibility between 2009 and 2012, who are Jaime Lissavetzky and Albert Soler (Secretaries of State for Sport in the last legislature).

“As for the program, it is designed at the beginning of the Olympic cycle and there are no restrictions. From the first meeting with the COE we are working and seeing how we have some urgency so that this program is maintained for Spanish sport in the future”, said Cardenal, referring to a possible suppression of the ADO Plan due to the economic situation of the country.

Likewise, he was “sure that Spanish sport will continue to have the same resources to compete in the next Olympic Games”.

Along the same lines, Alejandro Blanco, president of the COE, said that he was "confident" that the ADO Plan will continue in future Olympic editions.

“There is an important issue and it is the fidelity that the sponsoring companies have shown each time the cycle has ended. No one is unaware of the economic cycle, but the commitment cannot be ignored either. It is a subject of dialogue for the future, but I have no doubt that the ADO program will continue so that athletes have the appropriate support to compete, ”he highlighted.

Regarding the number of scholarship recipients, Blanco stated that the possible exclusion of athletes who will compete in the Olympic Games with little chance of achieving a good result was not considered.

“To go to the Games there are minimum requirements and whoever meets them earns the right to go. We are not a country that can say that only those who are going to win are going. The sporting level of a country is measured by the number of qualifiers, both individually and by teams, then the chances of each one go. We have to respect the criteria that we have and in none of the meetings that I have held has this issue been put on the table, ”he assured.

Source: publico.es