Juan D. Latorre
Last Tuesday, the Hungarian Embassy opened in the Gonzalo de Berceo Hall of the Centro Riojano in Madrid (calle Serrano 25), the photographic exhibition Around the world with the Hungarian Special Olympics.
The exhibition was opened by the ambassador of Hungary, Katalin Tóth; the president of Special Olympics of Hungary, Lajos Lengyel; the president of Special Olympics Spain, Miguel Sagarra, and the president of the Riojano Center of Madrid, José Antonio Rúperez, President of the Centro Riojano in Madrid.
In the morning, an event was held at which the Special Olympics Federations of Hungary and Spain signed an agreement for future sports activities.
The Hungarian ambassador indicated her “It is a pleasure and a joy to be able to organize this exhibition in order to contribute to the joint work of the federations (Hungarian and Spanish) and it is also a source of pride for me to be able to participate in the process of signing the collaboration between them and I hope that all this is only the beginning to be able to move forward and to be part of more common projects”.
The President of Special Olympics Hungary, Lajos Lengyel, said that “through this sport, we show the skills of these people through sport, and as we get to know them, they also bring us a little closer to their world, a world that gives us much love, joy and emotional wealth, which we need so much today.”
Sisters Viviana Marton (Olympic champion in Paris 2024) and Luana Marton (this year’s world champion in Baku, Azerbaijan) were present at the inauguration. Both were born in the Canary Islands and compete for Hungary, their parents’ country.
Special Olympics promotes active and constant physical activity among people with intellectual disabilities, in order to improve their quality of life through integral development in different personal areas, The European Commission has published a report on the European Union’s work programme for the next five years.
What sets them apart from the rest is their philosophy, their way of understanding sport and expresses it in the Special Olympics Madrid athlete’s oath: “I want to win. But if I fail, let me be brave in the attempt.”
Yesterday afternoon, the Embassy organized a concert at the Centro Cultural Nicolás Salmerón performed by young musicians Elemér Balázs on piano and Ali Lugosi on clarinet, along with soprano Yvette Mondok, discovered by the Hungarian TV programme Virtuosos, a competition for classical music talents.
