The city of Irun was awarded this Wednesday by the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) for its "historic and continuous support for sport," with a special recognition for its dedication to handball, a discipline deeply intertwined with Irun's sporting identity.
The official award ceremony took place at the COE headquarters in Madrid. Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, presented the distinction, while Cristina Laborda, the mayor of Irun, received it on behalf of the city. This award for Irun comes within the context of a ceremony recognizing individuals, entities, and cities for their actions in favor of sport and Olympism.
In the case of the border city, the Spanish Olympic Committee wished to highlight "the city's sustained commitment to sport in general and handball in particular over the past decades." The City Council has supported the growth of this discipline from grassroots and formative categories to the highest competitive level, backing the activities of Club Deportivo Bidasoa Irun, a historic benchmark in Spanish handball and the only Basque club to have won a European Cup.
“"Irun has nearly a hundred registered sports clubs and entities covering over thirty different disciplines, which demonstrates people's involvement in promoting sports practice at all ages."
Irun's commitment to sport has also been reflected in the Olympic arena. Over the past decades, athletes linked to Irun have represented Spain in the Olympic Games. Among them are Pedro Alegre, Esteban Arakama, and Ander Elosegi in canoeing; Juan José Aramburu in Olympic shooting; Julen Aguinagalde in handball; and Teresa Errandonea in athletics, examples of a sporting trajectory that has carried the name of Irun to major international competitions.
The city's organizational capacity has been evident in recent years through the hosting of significant sporting events at national and international levels. Irun has hosted stages of the Vuelta Ciclista a España and the Itzulia, welcomed the final phase of the Copa del Rey de Balonmano last year, and recently organized "with great success" the OCR European Championship, a competition that brought together over 2,500 athletes from numerous European countries.
"The recognition from the Spanish Olympic Committee thus values a decades-long trajectory of the city and reaffirms Irun's role as a leading locality in the sporting field," commented Mayor Laborda.
