Atletismo Español,
the magazine of the Spanish
Athletics Federation (or Real Federación Española de
Atletismo) was first published in February 1951
and has just published its 500th issue. As one might expect, this
is a landmark edition and especially interesting: it contains the
history of Spanish athletics which, during these 47 years, has
often been the history of world athletics, right up to the double
victory of Abel Anton and Martin Fiz in Athens '97.
Not only: Spain has become one of the countries which has
organised major international athletics competitions with the
greatest frequency and success, from the 1981 World Cross Country
Championships in Madrid to the country's current preparations for
the 7th World Championships in Athletics, which will be held in
Seville at the end of August 1999.
Atletismo Español has played a
fundamental role in the development of the athletics culture.
Without such a magazine as the repository of emotions and
memories, this growth would have been impossible. It is only
right, in this context, that we recall the names of the
publication's two founders: Dr José Manuel Perez, President of
the Real Federación Española de Atletismo, and Pedro
Escamilla. Some of the new generation of journalists may know
nothing about don Pedro: the older ones among us can
count ourselves lucky. Lucky to have worked on innumerable
occasions, in press stands around the world, alongside don Pedro
Escamilla.
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