WELL UNDER WAY

By: Javier Merchan

Madrid '98 has the support of the Spanish institutions in every sense. The presidency of the Honorary Committee (as we announced in the last issue of BSI) has been accepted by Prince Felipe de Borbon, heir to the Spanish throne. The Committee also includes another universal Spaniard, the recently re-elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, who has clearly shown his wholehearted support for the project.

The IOC has committed itself to facilitating the participation of athletes from countries with economic problems, so that they may compete in Madrid next july. This initiative will have a most positive effect on the levels of participation. It is hoped that the numbers of athletes and countries will surpass those of the Atlanta '96 Paralympic Games. The Presidents of the Spanish Government and of the Madrid Autonomous Region, the Labour and Social Affairs Minister and the Education and Sports Minister, the Presidents of the Spanish Olympic and Paralympic Committees, the Presidents of IBSA and the World Blind Union, the Presidents of the Spanish Judo, Athletics and Swimming Federations, the chairwoman of the Sporting Press Association and the director general of the ONCE are also members of this Honorary Committee.

As everyone knows, an event only really exists when it appears in the news media. For this reason, the Organising Committee has been maintaining contacts with the Spanish public TV company (TVE), which is most interested in promoting this event. It is highly probable that the opening ceremony and most of the finals will be broadcast live. This project could boost the knowledge of the general public regarding the achievements being reached by blind athletes. The mass media (press, news agencies, radio, etc.), both national and international, will certainly be present too.

Equally certain is the participation success. At this moment in time, the Championship headquarters is receiving entries from the different countries and awaiting reply from several national organisations; there are already 56 countries duly entered (59 participated in Atlanta). Only 3 countries responded negatively: Hong Kong, which only participated in Lawn Bowling in Atlanta and which has undergone significant changes this year; Switzerland, which was only present in Cycling, and Cyprus, which was not represented in the blind sports. Over 80% have already replied, given that 26 delegations have yet to send back their forms, and so we believe that the number of participating countries will be greater than in Atlanta. This is the great challenge, to achieve the maximum number of athletes and delegations possible.

With the deadline now drawing near for returning the first ENTRY FORM, there are already over 1,200 athletes provisionally entered. Within this number, we must underscore the figure for women in Judo. Madrid '98 is a pioneer in this discipline as this will be the first World Championships with female judokas participating. As for Athletics, this will account for the greatest number of participants, due to the large variety of events. The number being forecast to date is 500 athletes, according to the data provided by the person in charge of Operations at these Championships, Pau Serracanta. As regards Swimming, the delegations from Germany, Spain, United States, Great Britain, Italy and South Africa will be the most numerous in the pools at the installations belonging to the National Sports Council in Spain.

Goalball, the most widely practised blind sport, has provided us with a pleasant surprise. There is a large number of delegations interested in sending a team to Madrid '98. The fantastic work carried out by IBSA to boost the practice of this sport has reaped dividends in the form of a huge number of entries, not just from the European and Asian countries that habitually participate in the international Goalball championships, but also from African and Latin American countries. Unfortunately, not all of them will be able to come to Madrid next year. There will only be 16 male and 12 female teams. These will be drawn from those with best results at the '96 Paralympic games and at the respective regional Championships.

The "Volunteers" project is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the most important within the Plan of the Organising Committee for the Madrid '98 World Championships (COCM'98). Without resorting to major publicity campaigns, there are, at this moment, already some 500 applications from people wishing to form part of the Volunteers contingent, most of them young students. The dimensions of this event, the characteristics of the athletes and the amateur status of blind sports make the Volunteers an essential factor to ensure the Championships are an organisational success and will constitute a showcase and example of the solidarity of Madrid towards disabled sports.