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Five-time triathlon world champion Gomez Noya wins Princess of Asturias award for Sports

Xinhua, June 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The five-time triathlon world champion Francisco Javier Gomez Noya has won the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports, the foundation for the award reported on Wednesday.

Gomez Noya won the silver medal at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, the first one for Spain in this category, and became the unique triathlete holding five world titles.

He also received the title of best national triathlete in 2006 and 2009; was bestowed the silver medal of Spain's Royal Order of Sports Merit in 2008; and was named best Galician sportsman in 2015, among many other distinctions.

Gomez Noya was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1983 where his parents worked before returning to Spain's northwestern region of Galicia when he was three months old. He started swimming when he was 11 years old and competed for the first time in the Olympic triathlon competition held in Asturias in 1998, coming second in the junior category.

The jury said that, according to the Princess of Asturias Foundation, the award is "conferred to those whose lives and work are not only examples to others, but who have also contributed in an extraordinary manner through their efforts to the advancement, nurturing, fostering, or dissemination of sport."

Gomez Noya is now training for the Rio 2016 Olympics with the hopes of taking home the gold medal after recently winning the European championships for the fourth time in Lisbon, Portugal.

Last year, the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports was won by the Gasol brothers. Others awarded this prize were Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernandez, Spain's football and basketball national team, and tennis player Rafael Nadal.

The Princess of Asturias Awards aim to recognize the technical, scientific, social, cultural and humanitarian work carried out by people, groups and institutions in the world. The prize includes 50,000 euros (56,962 U.S. dollars), a sculpture of Joan Miro, a diploma and an insignia.

The prize will be given by the Queen and King of Spain in the Asturias city of Oviedo in the fall. Endit