Brazil has 170 podiums in Olympic Games. Among individual and collective sports, 609 athletes received medals, of which 61% are from the axis formed by Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.
In the most recent edition of the mega event in Paris last year, the delegation that represented Brazil had 62% of athletes born in states of the Southeast region, which also includes Espírito Santo.
There is in the COB (Olympic Committee of Brazil) the understanding that it is necessary to decentralize the formation of elite competitors to offer opportunities around the country and strengthen other regions.
For this, the committee started this month a process of mapping sports structures that can receive a new certification as qualified for the development of athletes. Spaces that do not require much investment to achieve this level will also be listed.
“The idea is to identify in the Brazilian scenario the level of facilities that exist, classify them according to a number of requirements and guide how these facilities can evolve within their levels, making them meet the necessary requirements for high performance,” Jorge Bichara, COB, told COB, to Sheet.
The parameters of this certification are still being discussed by the committee, but the main aspects to classify a particular training center will be the amount of modalities offered, the availability of food for athletes, hotel services and the qualification of professionals who make up the coaching staff.
The COB expects to complete the mapping by December, when it will introduce it to its partners and the Ministry of Sport. “With this certification, we can be more assertive to allocate public and private investments,” said Bichara.
The sports equipment management model is still under discussion. Some will be managed exclusively by the Committee, and others will have partnerships with entities such as the CPB (Brazilian Paralympic Committee).
This will be the case, for example, of the CFO (Olympic Training Center) of Fortaleza, Ceará, currently under the management of IDM (Dragão do Mar Institute), with funds from the Secretariat of Sport and Youth of the State Government of Ceará.
The site had been on the Radar of COB since the inauguration of President Marco Antônio La Porta, in January this year. This Friday (25), the new board complete a hundred work days.
“This space has highly qualified sports facilities, except for the athletics track, which really needs reforms,” said the COB consultant. “And he has a strategic position for the North-Northeast meeting, with direct flights to Europe and the United States. This is very interesting for the exchange of athletes to Europe and vice versa.”
Currently, the country’s main Olympic Training Center is in Rio de Janeiro, at COB headquarters, in Barra da Tijuca, where Maria Lenk Water Park, Artistic Gymnastics, Health and Performance Center and the Olympic Laboratory CT are concentrated. São Paulo and Minas also have robust structures.
Although it aims to decentralize the development of athletes, the COB aims to seek new spaces in the South and Southeast regions.
“We keep understanding that it is very important that Rio, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul are very strong. But we need others to be strong as well.
When completing the space mapping step, COB will implement the National Training Centers System, a platform that will be intended to connect the equipment and allow the sharing of its practices.
“In addition to training methodologies, we will be able to share administrative management models, such as ways to have an economic management of hotel or energy use, for example,” said the leader.
