The Royal House failed to check Mireia’s schedule

One might suppose that diligence runs from top to bottom. That was what I pondered to myself yesterday while the National Sports Awards were being doled out at the Royal Palace of El Pardo. All of those awards were deservedly won and far be it from me to argue the contrary, after being honoured to be on the judges’ panel. And lo and behold, here we are in December 2014, handing out awards corresponding to 2013’s achievements and that just isn’t right. I will make a shameful confession – voting took place just a few weeks ago, in which we took great efforts to consider the merits of our sportsmen and women from this year which is about to end and the previous one.

Right from the day I was called to take part in the voting, I knew that the delay in holding this awards ceremony stems back to that unfortunate hunting expedition which left [former Spanish King] Don Juan Carlos I in an embarrassing position – and not just for his subsequent hip problems. Since then, it was deemed that the best sportsmen/women from ‘Year X’ would be nationally recognized in the year ‘X+1’. It’s an issue which is relatively important as regards to who some of the minor awards are given. And thanks to the excellence of some of our sportsmen and women, the delay has almost gone unnoticed. What a stroke of luck.

One case in point is that of Mireia Belmonte, elected sportsperson of the year for 2013, and who should have been at El Pardo yesterday to collect her award. And it is here that we see a lack of sensitivity by Spain’s Royal House – to such a degree that they organized the ceremony on a day when the swimmer was unable to attend because she was competing in Doha. According to those in charge of handing out the trophies (Mireia’s father picked up her award on her behalf), that precise moment she was about to pick up the gold medal in the 200m butterfly at the World Short Course Championships. Her award was for her achievements in 2013 and we are now in December 2014. They showed a disregard for her schedule and that is a great shame. Mireia’s absence took the shine off the event. Let’s see if we can do much better this time next year.

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/1BiQlsD

via IFTTT