The Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, has agreed this Tuesday to grant entry into the Royal Order of Sports Merit, with the category of Grand Cross, to former basketball player Pau Gasol, who last 5 In October, at 41, he announced his retirement from professional sports. The award has been motivated by having stood out in a “more than remarkable, exceptional and repeated way in sports practice, for having carried out an extraordinary service work to the world of sports and physical education, and for giving prestige to the name and reputation of Spain acting as ambassador in the field of sport with a trajectory of special exemplary and international recognition ”, according to the statement sent by the Ministry of Culture and Sports. “He is a person who has also been characterized by his closeness and human quality and always with social involvement,” said Isabel Rodríguez, Minister of Territorial Policy and spokesperson for the Executive during the press conference after the Council of Ministers.
🥇The Government has agreed in #CMin grant entry into the Royal Order of Sports Merit, with Grand Cross status, to the former basketball player, @Pau Gasol.
In recognition of his brilliant career and his work of extraordinary service to the world of sport. pic.twitter.com/rVV78CWSTf
– La Moncloa (@desdelamoncloa) October 19, 2021
Gasol (Sant Boi de Llobregat, 1980) played 18 seasons in the NBA, where he won two championship rings and played six All Star. The Catalan pivot has a height of 2.13 meters, and among his greatest sporting successes with the national team are achieving the 2006 Basketball World Cup and the silver medals at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games. He is also the highest scorer in the history of Eurobasket, a tournament that he has won three times (2009, 2011 and 2015) .
An athlete characterized by his professionalism, closeness to people and his human warmth, he has received numerous awards for his social involvement. In addition, he has been a Unesco ambassador since 2003. Together with his brother Marc, he is the founder of the Gasol Foundation, a non-profit organization that collaborates in the promotion of health and the promotion of healthy habits, especially to prevent and combat childhood obesity.
In addition, Gasol has stood out in defense of equality in sport. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports (2015), the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit (2007) and the Don Felipe de Borbón National Sports Award (2001)
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