The University pays tribute to Navarre's Olympic and Paralympic athletes and coaches at exhibition
On the occasion of the celebration of Olympic Day, a sample on the Games during the interwar period will also be presented in the Library Services
22 | 06 | 2021
The Olympic programs of study Center of the University of Navarra pays tribute to athletes and coaches from Navarre who have participated in some occasion in the Olympic or Paralympic Games. The sports center of the University will host tomorrow Wednesday at 13.45 hours the inauguration of the Navarra Olympic Gallery, a exhibition composed of a set of plaques with images of athletes who were born in Navarra or have developed their sporting activity in Navarra, which will include the name, sport and games in which they have participated. The sample can be visited in person or virtually.
The exhibition is part of the events organized by the University of Navarra on the occasion of the celebration of Olympic Day, June 23, which will be attended by members of the committee advisor of the Olympic Center programs of study (CEO). In addition, a sample on the Olympic Games in the interwar period will be presented at the Library Services of the University of Navarra. The workshop will end at 7:30 p.m. with a session of the Sport and Society Forum.
The inauguration of the gallery will be attended by the president of committee Superior Sports (CSD), José Manuel Franco Pardo and the director of the Spanish Olympic committee (COE) and president of the Spanish Skating Federation, Carmelo Paniagua; Rebeca Esnaola, Minister of Culture and Sport of the Government of Navarra and Maria Caballero, Councillor for Youth and Sport of the City of Pamplona, among others. In addition, Navarrese Olympians and Paralympians will be present and will receive recognition: among others, Elena Navaz, bronze medalist in Taekwondo at the 1988 Seoul Olympics; Santiago Pesquera, four silver medals at the Paralympic Games in adapted bocce; Rubén Beloki, gold medal as a pelota player at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Florencio Esquisábel, gold medalist in the modality hand pelota pairs at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
The exhibition is completed with a Digital Olympic Gallery that collects the Olympic career of each of its members, along with a summary of the history of the Navarre Olympics and general statistics. The objectives are: the recognition of the sportsmen and women who have represented us throughout history and to keep alive the sporting conscience of the region.
One month before the Tokyo Olympic Games, the University will also inaugurate the exhibition "Olympism in the tense truce between two wars (1920-1940)". The inauguration of the exhibition, at position of the file General, the Center of Olympic programs of study , the department of History, History of Art and Geography and the Library Service, will take place at the Library Services Central at 17:30. Conrado Durántez, president of the Spanish Olympic Academy, will give a speech.
Through materials from the Library Services and the file General of the University, with the background of Pedro J. Matheu, a Salvadoran diplomat who was a member of the committee International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the interwar years, the exhibition tries to "reflect the intense activity of an Olympic movement that sought points of meeting around sport, and that continued to think about sporting events even in spite of war and confrontations," according to Francisco Javier Caspístegui, curator of the exhibition.