COB uses pre-Olympics at home to boost delegation to 500 days of Paris-2024

With 500 days left for the 2024 Olympics, officially celebrated this Tuesday, the 13th, the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) is targeting pre-Olympic tournaments held in Brazil, with the presence of the crowd, to “boost up” the delegation and theoretically increase medal chances. The objective is to surpass the 302 athletes of the Tokyo Games.

The 2023 calendar has several tournaments that guarantee direct spots or points in the Olympic ranking. In surfing, the Saquarena stage, between June and July, is the eighth of eleven disputes on the circuit that qualifies directly for Paris. In men’s volleyball, the country will be one of the venues for the Pre-Olympic Games, which will be played between September 30th and October 8th – the others being Japan and China. In October, Brasília will host the World Cup Brasil, a triathlon tournament that also offers points for the Olympic ranking. The Brazilian Tennis Confederation (CBT) plans to bring events to Brazil (Challenger) to allow athletes to earn more points – the dates are not yet defined. “Some qualifying tournaments are being held in Brazil. This is good for us. It is not a guarantee, but it is a facilitator”, says Paulo Wanderley, president of COB.

The director states that Team Brazil can count on up to 330 athletes in Paris. “The retrospect of qualifying events, which may end close to the Games, and the World Championships, makes us believe that we can have a higher number than the one that went to Tokyo. I don’t believe it is much higher. It varies from 280 to 310. It is possible that reaches 330? Yes, it is possible”, said the representative.

Wanderley spoke to Estadão this Sunday, the 12th, by videoconference from Paris. The leader is in the French capital to accompany the festivities for the 500 days of the Games and also to define the location of Casa Brasil, a meeting point for athletes, sponsors and family members. The address must be Parc la Villette, one of the most important urban parks in the capital. The base of support for the Team of Brazil will be the city of Saint-Ouen, with five installations 600 meters from the Olympic Village.

Due to the postponement of the Tokyo Games from 2020 to 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic, preparation for Paris is the shortest Olympic cycle in history with an unprecedented three years. This required planning in advance – the location of the support base was defined last year, for example. This year, the great opportunity for an athlete to secure an Olympic spot is the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, starting in October. In all, 21 sports will grant direct classifications, among them, that means eight more compared to the last edition of the Pan de Lima, in 2019. “The Pan is very important for us and our main focus is the Olympic classification. Our strategy is to enter with strong teams in all events for the projection of the Country and for the athletes to be tested”, he says.

The presence of more athletes in competitions as of July 26th could mean a greater chance of medals. The COB prefers not to divulge the target number of podiums, but the country can break the record for medals for the third time in a row, something unprecedented in history. At the Rio 2016 Games, there were 19 (seven gold, six silver and six bronze); in Tokyo, 21 podiums (seven gold, six silver and eight bronze). In Japan, Brazil ranked 12th in the overall medal table. “I’m not going to fall into the trap of saying that we want to be among the top ten, for example. We’re going to work to surpass Tokyo’s results at all levels, such as gold medals and the overall picture. sports with the possibility of a medal”, he says.

On the other hand, the director reveals that he should increase the cash prizes for medalists. In individual sports, the gold medal yielded BRL 250,000 in prize money; silver was R$ 150,000 and bronze, R$ 100,000. “As everything is overcoming, we are going to exceed the previous number. The amounts will be closed next year depending on the budget, which will be defined between September and November.

Paulo Wanderley has been COB’s agent since the removal of Carlos Arthur Nuzman, in 2017. He took over as deputy and was elected for a new term in January 2021. Nuzman left office because of the investigation of Operation Unfair Play, by the Federal Police, who investigated the purchase of votes to choose Rio as the host of the 2016 Olympics and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The leader resigned, was arrested for 15 days, but was released by habeas corpus of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). Nuzman has always denied the accusation.