If someone has really clear in mind what is going to happen in this country by the end of 2023, those are the athletes and Para athletes. They have experienced it in all the host cities of the Olympic Games and the Pan American and Parapan American versions. But the stage is very different when it’s their turn to receive them in their own home.
That mixture of nervousness, anxiety, and pride is what Alberto Abarza shows as soon as he steps into the Santiago 2023 Games offices. "I’m happy to have been selected to be an ambassador of these Games. I accepted the proposal as soon as it came to me. I couldn’t miss this great sports festival," he expressed with evident emotion.
The Paralympic and Parapan American multimedalist was received by the Santiago 2023 Chief Executive Officer, Harold Mayne Nicholls, who thanked him for wanting to to join the promotion of the Games, and he also took the chance to praise the Para swimmer career “we’ve been following Alberto’s career and we’ve enjoyed with him each of his competitions. We still don’t know if Alberto will be able to join us in these Games, but we’re sure that he’ll collaborate with his spirit and experience in everything that Santiago 2023 requires”.
Alberto won one gold and two silver medals at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (picture by: Santiago 2023).
Abarza, who has among its victories a gold medal from Tokyo 2020 and another one from the Lima 2019 Paralympics, said that “the only invitation is to enjoy the Games, living the sports from joy as I do.” “There is no need to focus the sport career in winning medals, because that is living in constant frustration. I consider that we must keep the valuable sport lessons, as values and discipline,” he commented.
Conventional and adapted athletes from our country agree that sports have grown a lot in our country during the last years. In this sense, the development of the next Pan American and Parapan American Games should be a boost to strengthen the sport interest and practice in Chile.
“The Santiago 2023 Games will leave a historic legacy related to motivating the athletes, conventional and adapted ones to overcome the impairment limits and issues. I feel that a lot of people, like me, are venturing and trying competitions,” indicated Alberto Abarza.
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