Michel Bodart

Paris, Jun 21 (PL) The municipal councilor of the city of Tremblay-en-France, Michel Bodart, expressed satisfaction with the reception of Cuban athletes for their preparation and acclimatization for the Paris-2024 Olympic Games.

"We are a city that attaches great importance to sport, and we have taken advantage of the context of the games that will begin on July 26 to promote collaboration with the island, hand in hand with a project of the Cuba Coopération France (CubaCoop) association," the local head of High Level Sport and Paris-2024 told Prensa Latina.

The day before, the Cuban Olympic boxing team arrived in France, made up of five boxers, including two-time summer champions Julio Cesar La Cruz (92 kilograms) and Arlen Lopez (80 kilograms), a squad that will be training in Tremblay-en-France.

Bodart pointed out that the city has already welcomed Antillean boxers, both youths and top figures, thanks to the will of the commune of the Paris Region and its mayor, François Asensi, to renew the ties that the Covid-19 pandemic affected.

"We are happy to have a high-level team back in its final preparation for Paris-2024," remarked the official.

According to the municipal councilman, the support to the island before and during the Olympic Games will go beyond sports, thanks to a joint project with CubaCoop and the government of the Caribbean country.

"We will host Cuba during the games, with a wide program of cultural activities that will turn into a real popular party," he said.

From July 22 Tremblay-en-France will be a sort of a little piece of Cuba on French soil to share its music, its dances, its results in various areas of society and its reality.

For CubaCoop's president, Victor Fernandez, the upcoming days in the commune of the Seine-Saint-Denis department will represent an opportunity to show support and solidarity to the island.

The association has been running for two years a project aimed at supporting the preparation of athletes from the largest of the Antilles with a view to Paris-2024, an initiative that will have its peak days and weeks before the event under the five rings, to develop their final training and promote their acclimatization.

Upon his arrival in Paris, the president of the Cuban Boxing Federation, Alberto Puig, thanked Tremblay-en-France and CubaCoop for their support to the so-called flagship of Cuban sport.