The remedy that cures most of the ills of sport when it comes to orchestrating a delegation abroad or hosting an international event, is the “Albergue Olímpico”.
And for what? If the medicine is worse than the disease when a federation has to pay 40 dollars, a value equivalent to RD $ 2,240.00 (two thousand two hundred forty Dominican pesos) daily for each athlete that he enters in the pension of the Ensanche La Fe.
Yesterday several federations spoke about the problem caused by the withdrawal of Miderec from shared administration. The Olympic Committee would hear about the case yesterday, but it was not possible to get a reaction. The silence of the president of the COD, Antonio Acosta, has been total and prolonged.
“More than 95% of the athletes in the athletics federation live in the towns, and we are one of the few disciplines that do not have a private village; and the historic town of Las Américas is closed for repair and the shelter is unaffordable, ”said Gerardo Suero Correa, president of the athletics federation.
“For the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games they did not charge us; for the Pan American Juniors, yes, and all the economic funds for the fires and training bases abroad went to us. It is a good place, but too expensive; Only when the COD and MIDEREC come together is it possible to hold a rally at the shelter, ”explained Suero Correa.
Now that the Ministry of Sports and Recreation (Miderec) and the Dominican Olympic Committee (COD) have publicly divorced the joint administration of the shelter, its members are crying out because of the famine that prevents them from holding their concentrations.
One of the most expensive in the area
Generoso Castillo, a daring leader of a fun Badminton activity, assures that the hostel (which officially has no name), is the best that can exist today to develop athletes.
“There is everything: good food, adequate rooms, it has a half court, a swimming pool, a gym equipped with all its equipment, the technicians, the psychologists, the doctors, everything is there! But no federation can pay two thousand pesos a day. or more for an athlete.
“A hotel gives you only breakfast, they give you all three (breakfast, lunch and dinner), but I get accommodation at half that price.
“The shelter should cost as at the beginning, 20 dollars, why have they raised it? They should not market this because it is harmful to athletes and to the entire movement… In Guatemala it was worth $ 15 a day, they raised it to $ 20; in Aguascalientes (Mexico) it costs 30; in Ponce (Puerto Rico) it went from 15 to 24; Cuba, a country with many economic problems, provides a luxury service for $ 20 … As a concept the hostel is a stick, but at that price it gives a poor service, “explained Castillo.
Independent administration
The lawyer Rubén García, president of the boxing federation, argued that the enclosure is very necessary and that he recently used it with the delegations of Guatemala and Ecuador in a series of national blanks, but the cost gave him a hard “knockout”.
“They have to create an independent administration and lower the local federations by 10 or 15%, those forty dollars multiplied by 12 or 15 athletes, plus coaches and officials are more than 600 dollars a day; the federations cannot assume that cost, unless a sponsor or the Sports Ministry assumes it ”, considered García.
The president of FEDOBOXA asks Miderec for a reconsideration and its decision to withdraw.
For his part, the president of the modern pentathlon federation, Freddy Núñez Jorge, says that while some complain about the costs of the hostel, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Guatemala, Barbados, Cayman Islands come to camp here, now in pandemic time, and they use the facility to its fullest.
“For them it is cheaper to come here, with three quality meals, good rooms and everything they need to do a sports camp; a hotel charges 50 and 60 dollars per head and without those facilities, “said Núñez.
In Gymnastics, its president Edwin Rodríguez sees the sports inn as an “incentive”, which even with its deficiency does not qualify as a hotel, but it has saved the federations.
Persio Maldonado, president of the tennis federation, believes that the decision “will have a negative effect on the management of the hostel. The reasonable thing would be for the COD leadership to meet with the Sports Ministry to assess this.
Above all, because we are in the preamble of the preparation of the Central Americans for 2023, to be held in El Salvador ”.
Some members of the federation also called for the intervention of President Luis Abinader in the problem.
KNOW MORE Waiting for the 2014 Volleyball Hostel.
“It would be the salvation of federated sports, we are all excited about that place for the concentration of our athletes and in international events avoid paying millions of pesos in hotels”, Alexis García, president of the Volleyball Federation.
Basketball.
Rafael Uribe, president of the Basketball Federation: “The best thing that can happen to athletes is to receive the shelter. Every time we travel with a delegation to represent the country, we stay in hostels ”.
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