Jorge Iván Agudelo is one of the best swimmers in Colombia. The ‘coffee-growing’ athlete has stood out in major international competitions, achieving 4 gold medals (3 in racing swimming and one in open water swimming), 3 silver and 1 bronze in the South American Master’s Swimming Championship in Paraguay, in August 2019.
However, the athlete lives complicated moments, since his opinions on politics through his social networks have been expensive. In the last hours, Agudelo revealed that his sponsors have withdrawn all their endorsements due to their political stances.
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The problems with private companies that provided sponsorships to the swimmer began in 2019 whenIn the midst of the national strike, the Police removed Jorge Iván Agudelo from the facilities of the Cartagena aquatic complex, where the National Games were taking place, because he was holding a banner in which he denounced diversions of money for sports .
WHO GAVE THE ORDER? WHO KEEPS GIVING IT? #We are massacring pic.twitter.com/RbozoS8gW1
– Jorge Iván del Valle (@ jorgeivan9108) August 19, 2020
Finally, the South American champion confirmed that several private sponsors who supported him withdrew their support. All this is because Agudelo began to use his Twitter account to comment on different political decisions that are carried out in the country. In addition, the swimmer said that the Government has not spoken head-on about what is happening in various regions of the country and pointed out that “if they were from another country, even their photo and hashtag would be used.”
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“They have canceled my sponsorships for my political position, for marching, for criticism and others. I don’t care, I get the money to pay for my championships, because they are my dreams, it is my passion. Before being an athlete, I am human, I am Colombian, “he wrote on his Twitter account.
One of the trills of the swimmer that sparked the controversy was: “They deny us the right to life and peace. Until when the massacres and wars in this country? What do we need to react, that they come and kill us, their children, what do we lack? ”, Wrote the athlete.
It’s not good morning, yesterday I kept thinking about the massacre of #Cali and now in those of #Samaniego
They deny us the right to life and peace. Until when the massacres and wars in this country?
What do we need to react, that they come and kill us, their children, what do we lack?
– Jorge Iván del Valle (@ jorgeivan9108) August 16, 2020
In an interview with ‘Revista Semana’, the Colombian swimmer was firmly in his position and made it clear that he will continue in his dynamic of complaining through social networks: “Personally, I will continue to do so because I believe that we cannot lose empathy, we have to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and look at things from other perspectives. “
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