TWO athletes have been given Spanish nationality in recognition of their sporting achievement.
Orlando Ortega Alejo, 23, from La Habana in Cuba, achieved the third-best time in the world this year in 110-metre hurdles, and has been keen to represent Spain at next year's Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
His new passport, giving him joint Spanish-Cuban nationality, means he will now be able to do so.
Javier Sotomayor (pictured), 47, from Limonar in Cuba, is now retired but is considered to be the best high-jumper of all time, currently holding the world record for indoor and outdoor heights at 2.43m (7'11”) and 2.45m (8'0”) respectively, both achieved in Salamanca in Spain's centre-north region of Castilla y León.
He won a silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and a gold at Barcelona 1992 with a height of 2.34m (7'7.5”), has two outdoor high-jump world championships – Stuttgart 1993 and Athens 1997 – to his name and four indoor high-jump world titles: Budapest 1989, where he broke the world record; Toronto 1993, Barcelona 1995, and Maebashi 1999.
Sotomayor is the only high-jumper in history to have broken the eight-foot (8'0”) barrier, and has cleared 7'10” (2.4m) and above more times than anyone else, having done so on 17 occasions.
He retired at the end of the 2001 season after coming fourth at the games in Edmonton, Canada.
Additionally, Spain has given citizenship to the gymnast Thierno Boubacar, from Equatorial Guinea.
Obtaining Spanish citizenship means passing all the requirements to obtain a letter of approval, and then swearing allegiance to the King, the Constitution and the laws of the land, and the applicant's agreeing to give up his or her previous nationality.
Natives of Latin American countries, Andorra, Portugal, Equatorial Guinea and The Philippines do not have to renounce their citizenship of birth, but are able to hold joint nationality.
