City of Sports: Barcelona 1979-2009

The exposition "The City of Sports: Barcelona 1979-2009" covers the past thirty years of development and changes. It reviews the transformation of the city of Barcelona, which has become a pioneer in the field of sports. Facilities, companies, activities and multiple, top-level sports events, since the 1992 Olympic Games to the 2003 World Swimming Championships, without overlooking the Tour de France this summer, are but a few examples that have placed the city at the forefront of international sports.

Conferences

Coinciding with this exposition, the Fundación Barcelona Olímpica has developed a workshop composed of four conferences by distinguished personalities whose contributions have been essential in the development of Barcelona as a city of sports.

30 years of municipal sports policies

Mr. Pere Alcober, president of the Fundación Barcelona Olímpica and Alderman for Sports at the Barcelona City Hall, shared a roundtable with former Alderman for Sports Mr. Albert Batlle and Mr. Enric Truñó at the conference “30 years of municipal sports policies.”

INEFC students, most of who were from the sports management course, carefully followed the conference and took advantage of the opportunity provided by the Olympic Museum. Journalist Sergi Valdivieso was in charge of offering the speech.

Sports Initiation Schools and the Barcelona Council for School Sports: past, present and future

Dolors Torres, former director of Sports Initiation Schools (or EIE from the
abbreviation in Catalan) IX Barrios offered the speech “Sports Initiation Schools and the CEEB (Barcelona Council for School Sports): past, present and future.” Also on had were Montse Mas, director of EIE Les Corts and Faust Rovira, director of EIE Sarrià who offered their support.

Managing Sports Facilities

The conference titled “Managing Sports Facilities” enjoyed the participation of Ricard Llorens, vice-president of UBAE (Barcelona Union of Sports Associations), Alfred Tabuenca, project manager at the firm IGE-BCN and Pere Andreu, manager of firm Marítimo Claridad. They shared the auditorium at the Olympic and Sports Museum. A number of personalities—most of who were from the field of Sports Management—followed the conference, and were able to exchange ideas and comments with the speakers.

International projection through sports events

During the last of the four conferences, the spotlight was on Barcelona as a city for sports. The event enjoyed the exceptional presence of three important events managers in charge of major sports events that have shown Barcelona to the world; these included Joan Porcar, COE of RPM Racing; Albert Agustí, CEO of d’Havas Sport Entertainment and Andor Serra, director of Barcelona World Race. These speakers offered their view of international projection thanks to sports events.