Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) President Alejandro Blanco admitted that the confrontation between the COE and the Spanish Superior Sports Council (CSD) "is a reality," according to Marco Ruiz of AS. Blanco: "There have been some discrepancies that nobody can hide. Doing this would be an error. But this can be resolved. We are in a very difficult year. In sports it is the year before the Rio Olympics, with qualifying for almost all the federations. Politically it is an election year. Our obligation is to go forward hand in hand. Spanish sport cannot allow public or private divergences." Blanco said of his recent comments that "there has never been as much intervention in sports" as there is now, "Several articles have appeared in which various federations claimed this. My obligation as COE President is to defend the independence of sport." Blanco added, "There is a nuance: the independence of sport does not mean the money is not controlled. Someone can misinterpret this. I am the standard-bearer for the all the audits done in this respect. But this is not meddling, it is meddling with the federations that are private, and there are things that are only the responsibility of those federations." Blanco said when asked which country he would "like to emulate in terms of the government's management" of Olympic programs, "I am in favor of the German model. In the countries that surround us, the government legislates and gives a bit of money to the national Olympic committees. And then there is the patronage law, which allows private businesses to give money with significant tax exemptions" (AS, 1/13).
