David Cal receives the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit
The award was announced in 2015 but it has been delivered now by Irene Lozano, secretary of State for Sport
This morning, the secretary of State for Sport and president of High Sports Council (CSD) delivered the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit to David Cal Figueroa, top Spanish Olympic medallist and member of the Sport Service of UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia. The former canoeist participated in four Olympic Games and obtained five medals.
His outstanding sporting success led to the announcement of this award in 2015 but, as David himself said “due to one thing or another, in the end, I could not collect it and today we took advantage of my presence in Madrid to, at last, celebrate the award ceremony”. Furthermore, he was happy and proud of the importance that the Grand Cross has: “It is the highest recognition that can be given to an athlete in Spain. There is a limited number of these types of awards and the fact of receiving one is a great honour”.