The participants during the inaugural parade of the Jedes on the slopes of Zafra. /
SPECIAL SPORT
Zafra hosts the final coexistence that this year coincides with the delivery of the Carlos V European Award to the European Forum on Disability
More than 800 people, including athletes and coaches, from 35 sports entities throughout Extremadura, as well as organization staff and volunteers, will meet in a new edition of the Extremadura Special Sports Games (Jedes) that will last until Friday may 13th.
The inaugural gala of the final coexistence of the thirty-eighth edition, which takes place in Zafra, took place this Tuesday and began with a great parade by the participating sports entities along the main entrance of the Sports City, which gave way , followed by the official act, in which the President of the Board, Guillermo Fernández Vara, or the Mayor of Zafra, José Carlos Contreras, intervened.
Contreras welcomed all the attendees, wishing them a pleasant stay from sports, leisure and free time and, before the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Nuria Flores, received from the hands of the mayor of Navalmoral de la Mata, Raquel Medina, the Extremadura Medal, awarded to the Jedes in 2004, which in each edition is guarded by the city that hosts it, according to the Zafra City Council in a press release.
Likewise, the first mayor stressed in his speech that “the important thing is to reach the goal together, all of us, that society as a whole and in an inclusive manner advance at the same pace and that value is something that public administrations must foster.”
For his part, the Chairman of the Board, Guillermo Fernández Vara, stressed the “example of overcoming” that the celebration of the Jedes represents for the world of disability.
The celebration of the Jedes coincides this year with the presentation of the Carlos V European Award to the European Disability Forum, a European non-governmental organization that has been working for 25 years defending the interests of some one hundred million people with disabilities in 27 European countries and whose main mission is to promote equal opportunities and protect the rights of this group.
«It is a pride that one of the most important awards that are given in Spain and in Europe, this year has gone to this NGO that is dedicated to working for words as beautiful as non-discrimination, full inclusion, integration, or everything that represents and means the history of your lives”, emphasized Fernández Vara.
Likewise, in a community like Extremadura, where “you don’t look at how the strongest are, but rather the most vulnerable”, the president of Extremadura has reiterated on different occasions the growth experienced by adapted sport in the region, linking it “to the effort, overcoming and illusion of all the people involved in its development”.
In that sense, Vara highlighted the Jedes as the “flag of Extremaduran sport”, being the “best stamp, brand and imprint” that identifies with the “way of understanding life, the world and equal opportunities”, points out the Board in Press release.
It should be noted that the Extremadura Special Sports Games have been included in the White Book of the Higher Sports Council (CSD) as one of the best practices in Spanish territory for the promotion of sports physical activity for people with disabilities; In addition to being awarded twice with the Olimpia Prize of the CSD and with the Medal of Extremadura.
An athlete lights the cauldron that marks the start of the Jedes. /
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.