LaLiga to attend opening of 'Spanish Sports Heroes' exhibition in NYC

LaLiga president Javier Tebas will be joined by Raul Gonzalez Blanco, LaLiga's country manager for the United States, and Miguel Cardenal, Spain's Secretary of State for Sport, at the opening of the exhibition Spanish Sports Heroes, which is being staged by the news agency EFE at the Cervantes Institute's New York headquarters. Jose Antonio Vera, the president of EFE, will do the curtain-raising honours.

The exhibition, which has been on in Spain throughout the year with the support of the High Council for Sport's Youth Sport Foundation, features a collection of unpublished portraits of top Spanish athletes, many of which were taken while they were finalising their preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Spanish Sports Heroes, which arrives in New York sponsored by LaLiga, gives the public the chance to see spectacular images of the likes of Pau Gasol; French Open winner Garbiñe Muguruza with her recently captured trophy; world triathlon champion Javier Gomez Noya, who has just been honoured with the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports; and Raul Gonzalez himself, of whom two special pictures are featured.

The event will be attended by diplomatic officials from Spain, representatives of the Mission of Spain to the United Nations, Spanish institutions in the Big Apple and Spanish companies established in the United States. Members of the NBA, MLS and the top football clubs from New York, the New York Cosmos and New York City, will also be present.

Coinciding with the hosting of the Copa America in the United States, Spanish Sports Heroes at the Cervantes Institute will unite the business world with the North American sports industry and notable figures such as the psychiatry professor at New York University, Luis Rojas Marcos.

The city of New York will be able to contemplate the best of the golden age of Spanish sport, featuring Ona Carbonell and Mireia Belmonte, both double medallists at the 2012 Olympic Games in London; Andres Iniesta, a World Cup winner in 2010 with Spain; the Spanish rhythmic gymnastics team led by Alejandra Quereda, who recently won the gold medal at the World Championships; Lidia Valentin, the European weightlifting champion in 2015; Vicente del Bosque’s Spain team; Rafa Nadal; the London 2012 taekwondo medallist Nico Garcia Hemme; the figure skater Javier Fernandez; and the hugely successful badminton player Carolina Marin and high jumper Ruth Beitia.

Many of these images have been placed in the global spotlight through the Google Cultural Institute platform, which promotes the works of the world's top museums and has publicised this collection on its cultural site.