Jaime Garcia (physician)

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Jaime Garcia Alsina (28 March 1874 – 20 September 1936) was a Spanish doctor, professor of medicine and gymnastics, and sports promoter and leader.

Jaime Garcia was born on 28 March 1874 in Barcelona, as the son of Pere Garcia i Corbera (1833–1903) and Josepa Alsina i Gonfaus, who already had three children from her previous marriage, including sports promoter Eduardo Tolosa, who are thus half-brothers.^[5]

His father founded the Gimnasio García in 1868 in Barcelona to give lessons to the fire department, of which he was the chief, and later opened it to the public.^[4]

Professional career

Following in the footsteps of his father, he founded the Gimnasio Garcia Alsina in 1904,

In addition to all the specialties he had, Garcia must not have had enough, and in 1910 he went on a European excursion with his friends from Los Deportes and La Veu de Catalunya, which served to increase his notoriety and offer news from abroad, such as those of Basketball.^[7] Along with Narciso Masferrer, Ricardo Cabot, and Josep Elías, Garcia was one of the pioneers of sports journalism in Catalonia.^[1] With them, he founded the Union of Sports Journalists in 1911, whose purpose was to defend, regulate and disseminate sports journalism which until then was self-taught.^[1][8]

Sporting career

In 1915, Garcia was one of the founders of the Catalan Athletics Federation, the very first federation of such in Catalonia, becoming its first treasurer under the presidency of Àlvar Presta.^[1][4] On 15 January 1917, he was appointed as the second president of the institution, a position he held for over a year, until 15 March 1918, when he was replaced by Joan Matas (only because Elías did not accept it).^[2] In total, he held the presidency in three different periods between 1917 and 1923.^[1][2] He was also the first president of the Spanish Wrestling Federation in 1914 as well as the first president of the Catalan Wrestling Federation [ca] between 1924 and 1932, which he himself founded.^[9] He left the presidency of the Catalan Federation in 1932 and the Spanish Federation two years later, occupying the honorary presidency.^[4]

Olympism

Garcia organized events and conferences to promote the culture of Olympism and the creation of the

During the 1930s, Garcia was a delegate of the SOC and organizer of conferences in order to promote gymnastics, sport, and hygiene among the young and the elderly. He collaborated with the Ministry of Public Instruction of the Directorate of Primo de Rivera, studying the regulations of National Physical Education and pre-military Instruction and making known what physical education and sports were like abroad by organizing an International Graphic Exhibition of Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Sports and Tourism in his gym.[4] In 1934, he promoted the First Catalan Congress of Physical Education, chaired by Augusto Pi, being a member of it together with the likes of Carles Comamala.^[4]

Personal life

His son, Joan Garcia y Rodríguez, had been the leader of the Catalan Winter Sports Federation [ca] and participated in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Both Garcia and his son were assassinated during the first days of the Spanish Civil War on 20 September 1936 (the same day that he was to participate in the Winter Olympics) by one of the many groups of "uncontrolled" people who spread terror among right-wing people and Catholics in Barcelona.^[4][10][11] His corpse appeared tortured and disfigured next to that of his son.^[4]

References