• Olympians Danny León, Julia Benedetti, Angelo Caro, Daniel Dhers, Charlotte Hym and Nick Bruce inaugurate the capital’s largest urban sports and culture festival  
• Six sports from three Olympic disciplines and the best graffiti, rap and trap artists will meet from October 8 to 10 in Madrid Río-Matadero

Madrid Urban Sports kicked off today with the official presentation at the Madrid Río-Matadero Park, which will host the event from tomorrow and throughout the weekend. Olympians Danny León, Julia Benedetti, Daniel Dhers, Angelo Caro, Charlotte Hym and Nick Bruce were the representative athletes during the press conference. They were joined by the mayor of the city, José Luis Martínez-Almeida and the deputy mayoress, Begoña Villacís, as well as other political personalities such as Sofía Miranda, sports councilor of the City Council, and the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco.

Throughout the weekend, Madrid Urban Sports will offer a wide range of sports and urban culture, open and free for all citizens. In total, competitions and activities of up to 6 different sports: skateboarding, bmx and 3×3 basketball, both Olympic disciplines, as well as scooter, breaking and roller freestyle. In parallel to all the sporting activity, a great cultural offer with rap and trap as protagonists, with live music, freestyle battle and graffiti exhibitions.

In the words of the mayor of the city: “Madrid Urban Sports combines everything we Madrilenians want: pride and identification with the city. Sport leads us to be better people through effort and sacrifice, those are the values we want to transmit to young people”.

A message that Begoña Villacís also wanted to emphasize, who also stressed the importance of instilling healthy habits in young people: “It is essential to convey the values of your sport. Urban sports are the children of cities and Madrid is their stage. The City Council has been able to adapt to the present, providing spaces for the practice of these sports. Madrid is your home, use it.”

Madrid goes Olympic with Madrid Urban Sports
The best international athletes in urban sports will meet during the Madrid Urban Sports weekend, just three months after the debut of skateboarding and BMX at the Olympic Games.

BMX silver medalist Daniel Dhers is one of the favorites for the podium of the event. During the presentation, he thanked that cities like Madrid bet on creating competitions of the highest level like this one: “I wish this event had been done before. We athletes have gradually made ourselves to the cities and we have become athletes capable of leading our sports and end up being Olympians.”

Another big name of the weekend is Julia Benedetti, few women can boast of having participated in the debut of skateboarding in the Olympics at just 16 years old. “For me it is a great pride to have participated in these Games representing Spain and I encourage other girls to skate and practice this sport. Being a reference for them is very important to me,” she explained in her speech.

Another athlete who landed from Tokyo to Madrid is the Peruvian Angelo Caro who achieved a great fifth place in the historic debut of skateboarding. His message was addressed to so many young people who, like him, have dedicated many hours of training in the shadows to finally receive a well-deserved recognition. “It’s a dream come true to be part of the Olympic Games. This fifth place is a great motivation to continue and to keep pursuing dreams after so many years of dedication. I encourage everyone to pursue their dreams because you can see that they come true.”

Basketball will also be the protagonist, with a dedicated space throughout the weekend with the Plaza 3×3 CaixaBank while roller freestyle, breaking and scooter will also offer high-level competitions and pure spectacle.

Culture will be the second major axis of the festival with spaces dedicated to give visibility to Madrid talent. The Young Blood freestyle battle, the imagin Flex Moments or the exhibition of urban art under the Manzanares Town label, are just some of the activities that the public will be able to enjoy openly and free of charge. If there’s one thing attendees won’t have time for, it’s boredom.