Theresa Zabell

Only Spanish female athlete double Olympic Champion. Visionary leader with proven track record of driving and managing organizational change, forward thinking, resilient and proactive with achievements in highly competitive environments, innovative ideas and executive management, with a 40-year career in sports, business and the environment.

She won gold at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996). In addition, she has won 5 gold medals and one silver medal in World Championships, 3 gold medals in European Championships and has won 14 international Olympic weeks and 13 Spanish Championships. She has been on several occasions number one in the world sailing ranking and elected Best Sailor of the 20th Century by the International Sailing Federation.

After her retirement from Olympic life in 1998, she launched the Ecomar Foundation, of which she is executive president. Its aim is to educate and raise awareness, especially among children and young people, about the importance of caring for the marine environment in order to save the planet. ECOMAR has already reached hundreds of thousands of people by carrying out activities and inviting them to be part of the solution. Her motto is "take care of the only two places you can never move from; your body and your planet".

She has been an international consultant for UNESCO on issues related to sport, a member of the European Parliament and vice-president of the Education, Culture and Sport Commission, where she worked to include sport as a new competence within community programs, and 1st vice-president of the Spanish Olympic Committee.

She is secretary of the Jury of the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports and member of the Jury of the National Sports Awards. She holds the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit, the Grand Cross of Naval Merit and the Olympic Order.