Sport week: Alvaro Galvis targets Rio 2016 gold

Colombia´s most decorated Para cyclist Alvaro Galvis will be pushing to add a Paralympic gold to his trophy cabinet when he competes at Rio 2016.

Galvis, who finished eighth in the road race and time trial C2 at London 2012, is following an intensive training programme as he plans to compete in the road race, the time trial, the 1km and the individual pursuit C2 events, in September.

“Rio 2016 will be the biggest and most remembered Paralympic Games ever,” said Galvis, who won the road World Championships in 2011 and 2014.

“I will try to achieve my best possible result and I dream of winning the Paralympic gold. I am working very hard, it is not easy to train for both the road and the track, but I remain confident.

“Competing at London 2012 was life-changing for me and allowed me to gain valuable experience for future competitions such as this year´s Paralympics.”

The 46-year-old also believes hosting the Paralympic Games in Latin America will help boost Para sport in the region and provide an incentive for organising more major competitions in the future.

“Having Latin America´s first Paralympic Games will be important for the region to showcase what it is capable of achieving, to learn and to grow ahead of other important events,” he said.

At 33 years old, Galvis was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma and, consequently, had his left leg amputated. Once he fully recovered from cancer, the Colombian started a fruitful career in Para cycling.

“It was terrible to go through that but I could recover thanks to the support of my beloved ones and Para sport, which gave me renewed motivation,” he said.

“I feel I can now be an example for every person that has been through a difficult moment in life and wants to move forward.”

With Rio 2016 fast approaching, Galvis is not only thinking about sporting glory, but also in leaving a positive legacy for Colombia´s Para cycling future generations.

“The future generations have a lot of energy and will to succeed, and we need to support them,” he said.

“We need more investment, but I believe Colombia will become a power in Para cycling in the future.”

Editor’s note: Each sport on the Rio 2016 Paralympic programme will have a dedicated week of featured content published on paralympic.org. Every week a new sport will be featured and the series will run until September’s Games, helping the public understand more about the 22 sports being contested in Rio.

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Sport fans from around the world can now buy their Paralympic tickets for Rio 2016 from authorised ticket resellers (ATRs)

The IPC’s Global ATR is Jet Set Sports, and Rio 2016 tickets and packages can be purchased on the CoSport website.

Residents of Brazil can buy 2016 Paralympics tickets directly from the Rio 2016 website.

Visa International is the exclusive payment card and the official payment system for the Paralympic Games.