Laia Palau awarded the Gold Medal for Sporting Merit
The Gold Medal for Sporting Merit has been awarded to the basketball player Laia Palau, a role-model in this discipline and in the world of sport. The medal recognises her career, her social commitment and her exemplary behaviour on and off the court.
Laia Palau Altès is Catalonia’s best-known woman basketball player and the one with the finest sports career in history. She has played a key role in promoting women’s sport, in particular women’s basketball.
She became an international player in 2002 and captained the Spanish national team from 2014, going on to become the women’s player with the most international caps in history. She won twelve medals between the three major tournaments and was triple European champion, in 2013, 2017 and 2019, runner-up in the world championships in 2014 and runner-up in the Olympic Games of 2016.
The player announced her international retirement in November 2021, having played 315 matches and won 12 medals in top-class competitions.
This award was approved unanimously by all municipal groups during the full council meeting of September 2022.
