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Eloy Rodríguez
Malaga
Monday, 21 October 2024, 14:58
Alberto García Chaparro, from Malaga, has been crowned the world champion of public speaking in Spanish. The 22-year-old won the Liga Española de Debate Universitario (Spanish university debating league) LEDU world public speaking championship on Friday 18 October, where he beat compatriot, Óscar Rodríguez de Vivero, from the Carlos III University of Madrid and Argentinean Stefanía Fossa, from the University of Belgrano. In the semi-finals, Alberto beat Peruvian representative Stefanny Diana Gamarra, from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
The topic for debate in the final four was: Is it acceptable for the less developed countries to pollute more to reach the level of progress of the more developed countries? The contenders for the title had spent weeks preparing their arguments and made their speeches to the Buenos Aires audience and the jury of professional public speakers. The University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, was the venue for the world final of the event organised by LEDU and the Red Latinoamericana de Cooperación Universitaria.
After his victory, the Malaga local dedicated the win to his parents, who could not be present, but whom he said he felt close to at all times. "The world cup means fulfilling the dream of my life. After seven years in the world of public speaking, this is the last step in a career that has changed me forever," Alberto said in his victory speech.
Alberto obtained the most votes from the public during the selection phase, which generated more than 130,000 views and almost 7,000 likes on his speech which was published on LEDU's social media accounts. The former student of Novaschool Añoreta, from Rincón de la Victoria, ended his thank you speech by recalling a phrase that a classmate told him after he lost a competition in Melilla: "You have to trust in time because it gives sweet exits to many bitter difficulties".
To get to the final in Buenos Aires, Alberto needed to overcome more than 600 applications from more than 80 universities and 20 different countries. This championship is open to undergraduate and master's degree students aged between 18 and 27 from all over the world. From all the applications, 60 participants are chosen, who then have to go through several rounds of selection, competing in tournaments and being voted on by the public and judges. Out of this process, four are then selected to contest in the grand final.
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