Spain Fan
The Spanish are good at sports. Unbelievably good in fact. This fact was brought home to me last night when they won the Eurobasket final easily against Serbia. But there is such a range, just think about it.
If you look at their main sports such as football, basketball, handball, golf, cycling, tennis and more they are close or at the top of the world. The names of Nadal, Torres, Gasol, Jimenez, Contador and so many others they are known Worldwide.
Fernando Torres Liverpool's Number 9
Why do the Spanish do so well? Well, let’s look back to the situation pre 1992. Spain had only ever won four gold medals at the Olympics prior to 1992 and the Barcelona Olympics and then when the Olympics came the country went on a spending fest on Sport so as not to be humiliated in their own country. (Have a look at this Sports Illustrated article from 1992 talking about the 13 Gold Medals won in Barcelona)
Pau Gasol led Spain to the Eurobasket Championships Title
The Olympics were used as a catalyst for the improvement in Spanish sports because of the massive investment into the athletes themselves in the years leading up to the event. It was amazing the progress that was made when a bit of money came their way. (It is interesting to compare this to Valencia football club last year when they weren’t paid an for three months didn’t win a match) The motivation was not just money though. The excitement was palpable throughout the whole of the country and also the other things on in ’92 meant that the competition for attention in the country was huge.
1992 was the big year for Spain. Apart from the Olympics the Expo was held in Seville and Madrid was European Capital of Culture. However they both paled into insignificance against the two weeks festival in Barcelona. Nevertheless, it shows what a bit of investment can do both in sport and other areas.
And look at it like this. The biggest white elephant ever was built between Seville and Madrid, the high speed AVE train. It was described by John Hooper in a Guardian article as such. A railway built on a different gauge to all other railways in Spain that finishes over 400km away from the nearest similar gauge railway. However this railway system is now the envy of most of the rest of Europe and increasingly looked to for examples of how to develop a rail system by the rest of the World. Why because Spain took the idea on and developed it and now the high speed rail system is fantastic and growing. Not bad for a white elephant.
How does this help you when you are thinking of coming to live in Spain? Well if you have children with a talent bear in mind that the talent will be nurtured here much more. The training and facilities are second to none. Why do you think Andy Murray is so good? Talent of course but his finishing school was in Spain. His mother brought him here at an early age.
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