Sporting legends granted Spanish citizenship
Monday, July 27, 2015 @ 10:35 AM
TWO athletes have been given Spanish nationality in recognition of their sporting achievement.
Orlando Ortega Alejo, 23, from La Habana in Cuba, achieved the third-best time in the world this year in 110-metre hurdles, and has been keen to represent Spain at next year's Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
His new passport, giving him joint Spanish-Cuban nationality, means he will now be able to do so.
Javier Sotomayor (pictured), 47, from Limonar in Cuba, is now retired but is considered to be the best high-jumper of all time, currently holding the world record for indoor and outdoor heights at 2.43m (7'11”) and 2.45m (8'0”) respectively, both achieved in Salamanca in Spain's centre-north region of Castilla y León.
He won a silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and a gold at Barcelona 1992 with a height of 2.34m (7'7.5”), has two outdoor high-jump world championships – Stuttgart 1993 and Athens 1997 – to his name and four indoor high-jump world titles: Budapest 1989, where he broke the world record; Toronto 1993, Barcelona 1995, and Maebashi 1999.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com