Sport in Spain

Sport in Spain in the second half of 20th century has been dominated by football. Other popular sport activities include basketball, tennis, cycling, handball, motorcycling, Formula 1, water sports, golf, and skiing. Spain has also hosted a number of international events such as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1982 FIFA World Cup. With Rafael Nadal's Wimbledon victory, the football team bringing home the Euro 2008 trophy and Carlos Sastre's Tour de France triumph more recently, several papers look beyond Sastre's win to claim that Spain is enjoying something of a sporting "Golden Age"-similar to the Spanish 17th century domination in painting and literature.

Types of sports

Football

Football is regarded to be the most popular sport in Spain. La Liga (The Spanish League) is ranked as the highest division of football and it is considered to be one of the world's best competitions. Notable teams includes Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, Atletico de Madrid, Sevilla CF, Villarreal CF, Deportivo La Coruña and Valencia CF. Real Madrid was dubbed by many pundits as the most successful club in Europe, having won the UEFA Champions League a record 9 times, almost all other UEFA club competitions at least once and the La Liga a record 31 times. Other teams such as Sevilla and Valencia have also won the UEFA Cup within the past several years.

The Spanish national football team has been successful and have qualified for the FIFA World Cup tournament twelve times since 1978. However, they have failed to win the tournament; their best record is a fourth place position in 1950. Their record in the European Championship is much better. They were champions in 1964, runners-up in 1984 and champions once again in 2008. Spain has won 2 medals in football Olympic games tournament. They have won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and won a gold medal during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

The youth teams have also been quite successful in the last decade. The U-20 team won the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1999 and were runners-up in 1985 and 2003. The U-17 team was runners-up three times and won third place in 1997 in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Basketball

Basketball is a popular sport in Spain. The Spanish ACB is one of the major European basketball leagues. Spanish teams such as Real Madrid Baloncesto, FC Barcelona Bàsquet or Joventut Badalona have won international championships such as the Euroleague or the ULEB Cup.

A number of Spanish players such as Marc Gasol, José Calderón, Rudy Fernández (basketball), Sergio Rodriguez, and Pau Gasol, are currently playing in the NBA league.

The Spanish national basketball team has achieved a high ranked position in the international tournament by winning their first ever gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, and have won six silver medals at the Eurobasket. Most recently they won a silver at the 2008 Olympics.

Tennis

Spain has produced a number of tennis champions, excelling in tournaments held on clay courts such as the Roland Garros tournament.

Beside that, Spain also won 2 times the Davis Cup (2000, 2004)

Rafael Nadal is considered the one greatest Spanish tennis player of all time. After defeating then world number Roger Federer, Nadal claimed the Wimbeldon trophy and became only the second Spainiard to do so. In addition, Nadal is the Gold Medalist at 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. He is ranked #1 in the ATP list since August, the 18th of 2008

Notable tennis players include Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Carlos Moyá, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Feliciano López, Felix Mantilla, Fernando Verdasco, Alberto Berasategui, Sergi Bruguera, Albert Costa, Àlex Corretja, Conchita Martínez, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Emilio Sánchez Vicario, Manuel Santana, and Nicolas Almagro

Handball

The Spanish Liga ASOBAL is one of the major handball tournaments in Europe. A number of Spanish teams such as BM Ciudad Real, FC Barcelona Handbol, and Portland San Antonio have won or have become finalists in the EHF Champions League.

During the 2000s the male Spanish national handball team has been a regular finalist in top class international tournaments. They won a bronze medal in 2000 at the World Handball Championship, and won the World Championship in 2005, while winning a silver medal at the 2006 European Handball Championship. Then the team won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Motor sports

Spain have hosted three Grand Prix motorcycle racing events. They include the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix, and the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix. Most events have received high attendance numbers.

Current Spanish motorcycling champions include Dani Pedrosa, Héctor Faubel, Jorge Lorenzo, Héctor Barberá, Álvaro Bautista and Emilio Alzamora. Notable retired racers include Álex Crivillé, Jorge Martínez Aspar, Sete Gibernau, Sito Pons, and Ángel Nieto.

Spain has hosted the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. The achievements of Fernando Alonso has made the sport become popular in the country. These events have established two Grand Prix tournaments to be held in Spain. They include the European Grand Prix and Valencia Street Circuit.

Cycling

Cycling has been an important sport in Spain since the 1940s. The Vuelta a España (Spanish for "Tour of Spain") is one of the most important cycling events in the world, together with the Tour de France (French for "Tour of France") and Giro d'Italia (Italian for "Tour of Italy") racing tournaments.

Some of Spain's cycling athletes have won the Tour de France, including Federico Bahamontes, Luis Ocaña, Pedro Delgado,Óscar Pereiro, Alberto Contador, and Carlos Sastre. The most successful Spanish cyclist is Miguel Indurain. He won the Tour de France in five consecutive periods between 1991 and 1995. On July 27, 2008, Sastre became the seventh and third consecutive Spaniard to win the Tour de France.

Golf

Golf has become popular among the Spanish. There are a number of courses located in different parts of Spain. They include the San Roque, Sotogrande, Valderrama, and Alcaidesa. Spain hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup.

Spanish golfer Severiano Ballesteros won the US Masters twice, and the British Open 3 times. José María Olazábal has won 2 Masters titles.

Roller hockey (Quad)

Roller hockey (Quad) is played by professional athletes. The Spanish national team are ranked in the top 4 position teams in the world.

Basque and Valencian pelota

Basque pelota and Valencian pilota are traditional Spanish sports. Tournaments includes trinquete, Trofeu Individual Bancaixa, Circuit Bancaixa, raspall singles championship, and raspall team championship.

kiing

Skiing is a popular sport. In the past, the sport was under developed for economic reasons. However the improvement of the economy of Spain, helped skiing become an active sport event. It has become affordable, and today three million skiers demand a development of the ski areas, that have been modernized in the last years. In Spain is the southernmost ski resort of Europe, Sierra Nevada. Skiing is one of the favourite sports of the Spanish Royal Family.

Volleyball

Volleyball is one of the most popular team sports in Spain. The Spanish volleyball have created international competitions, for both local and international tournaments. The game of volleyball is played during the summer period. It is participated by athletes and numerous popular competitions organized by vóley beach, not only in the coastal beaches, but also in the main cities.

Rugby

Rugby has been played in Spain since the 1920s. Although not as well-known as sports like football and basketball, it is gaining in popularity. Areas with a tradition of playing rugby include Valladolid, Sant Boi de Llobregat and the Basque Country.

Spain qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

Hunting

Spain offers two types of hunting tournaments. They include a tournament of hunting for animals such as rabbits, deer, and boars.

ee also

* Sport
* Sport in Catalonia
* Bullfighting

External links

* [http://www.valladolid.org/College/SportInSpain.htm Sports in Spain]
* [http://www.madrid-guide-spain.com/madrid-sport.html Sport in Madrid] .