NEWSLETTER #05

It’s been a while since we remembered all citizens in the world that can not live openly being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender at the closing ceremony of the 08 Barcelona EuroGames. That was the end of 4 days of sport, sun, fun, relax, debate, partying, exhibitions,…. Everything you could expect from an important event such as EuroGames.

First of all we’d like to thank all of you who came South, who made the trip to Barcelona and enjoyed EuroGames 2008, for the first time in Southern Europe. Participants, Supporters, Officials, Referees, Friends, Volunteers,… Thank you very much!!!!

We’d also want to thank from the deepest of our heart all volunteers,… not only Barcelona volunteers, but also many guys and girls coming from all corners of Europe wanting to help us in making the EuroGames possible. There were more than 1.000 volunteers in total offering all of us their precious time, abilities, friendship,… and always with a big smile. Again Thank you!!!!

Of course we also want to thank all sponsors, public corporations, individuals, collaborators, organizations, who gave us their support, not only financial (which is important), but also with their professional commitment.

And finally our thanks to the Organizing Committee and the Staff. They have been the soul, the heart and the hands of this complex body that is EuroGames. Their work has been essential for the good development of the Barcelona EuroGames. We have tried to meet the expectations of all of you, but we know that this is not always possible. We hope that you all will understand that we did our best and the satisfaction of all athletes, supporters and volunteers was the aim of all our efforts.

Last August 5th, a delegation of about 40 athletes, medalists at the EuroGames Barcelona 08, were received for the first time by Gianfranco Fini, President of the Italian House of Representatives, and leader of the most right wing party in the current center-right Italian government. The reception was asked for by Anna Paola Concia, congresswoman for the Democratic Party and gold medalist herself in the tennis tournament of the EuroGames, and saw the participation of Pepe García Vásquez, co-president of the EGLSF.

EuroGames Barcelona 08 have been on the media during the whole last week of July. Televisions, newspapers and radios have been covering the event completely. Here you can see some of the on-line links to the media. Most of them are in Catalan or Spanish.

On July 3rd, the EuroGames Organizing Committee, presented a press release at the Olympic Museum of Barcelona. With the support of Mr. Pere Alcober, Sports delegate for the Barcelona city hall and Carles Macian, Sports delegate for the Generalitat de Catalunya. Here you have some of the on-line media that reproduced this presentation.

We closed yesterday the EuroGames Barcelona 2008 with a very emotional celebration, sponsored by stop sida, an organization in the field of VIH-AIDS prevention. We want to thank all of you for sharing with us this dream.

Provisional figures show that we had about 5.300 participants, which makes this 12th edition of the EuroGames the most important in terms of participation. We want to thank all volunteers (more than 1.000) for their endless dedication to make your EuroGames at the best. More over, we are proud to announce that almost the 40% of participants were women and that among all our volunteers this percentage was even higher.

We also want to thank our main sponsors (Moritz, TMB and stop sida), as well as the Public Administrations (Generalitat de Catalunya, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Diputació de Barcelona and Consejo Superior de Deportes).

In the next few days we will publish the results and pictures of all sports, ceremonies, village, etc. Check regularly our website!!!

July 24th, 2008

It is with great sadness that our friend Carlos de Cires passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last night in Madrid. He was member of the organizing comittee of the EuroGames Barcelona 08 in charge of toursim and hosting.

We who knew him will miss him greatly.

Participants, supporters and volunteers... are you ready to get your EuroGames badge?

As soon as you arrive to Barcelona, you can go to the Accreditation center, which will be near Plaça d'Espanya, close from the EuroGames Village.

The EuroGames accreditatin center is located at:

Accreditation Center

Centre Cívic la Magòria
Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 247
(entrace by Moianès street)
Metro: Espanya

The center will be open from Monday to Saturday! Please, try to get your EuroGames badge as soon as possible, on Thursday a lot of people is arriving for the accreditation, so if it is possible for you try to avoid this day. Remember you need your badge to get into the Palau Sant Jordi for the Opening Ceremony, on thursday 24th at 21:00.

It is very important that your registration information and picture have been loaded before coming to Barcelona.

Read this! Important information about the accreditation!!

EuroGames Barcelona 08 wish to extend a special invitation to all of you to participate in the International Conference of Human Rights and Homophobia. The all-day conference will be held on July 24, 2008, at the INEFC center, in the Olympic Ring and quite close to the EuroGames Village.

During the International conference, we will expose situations of discrimination and stigma to which many LGTB people are subjected, in Mediterranean countries and Eastern Europe.

Download the program of the Conference