The President of the Olympic Committee of Portugal (COP), José Manuel Constantino, told Lusa this Friday that sexual harassment in Portuguese sport, “a wound” in society, is not a new phenomenon, because it “articulates strategies to combat ” is missing.
“I do not believe that the evidence that has occurred in sport is of a different nature from that which has occurred in other social contexts. There is no statistical data that would allow us to have evidence that these cases in the world of sport are more common. numbers than in other social dimensions.”explains the director in an interview with Lusa.
The case came back on the agenda after several football players who played in Rio Ave in 2020/21, in an article published last week by the newspaper Público, criticized the sexual harassment actions of the then coach of the Vila do Conde club Miguel. Afonso, who currently he was the coach of Famalicão, and the sports director Samuel Costa were also the subject of disciplinary proceedings.
Since “it is not the first time” that the subject has been brought up, sport is not “a world apart from other social practices”, so sexual harassment and abuse is “also a wound” in this sector, “which should be denounced and fought”.
“That all known cases can be charged, evaluated and ultimately sanctioned. Work simultaneously on civic education and training so that these practices cannot occur in the sports world. It is absolutely essential, especially for families, to have solid guarantees that the sports world is fighting these practices and does everything possible to prevent events”declared.
In addition to several warnings, José Manuel Constantino emphasizes this as a problem both between men and women, but also between men and women, in this case something “which also exists in sport but is fully camouflaged and has some impact”.
One of the COP president’s concerns is that Portugal will “trend seen in some international contexts”the withdrawal of children and young people from sports, either by their own will or by a parental decision, after the occurrence of these cases.
In April 2020, the leading body issued a statement warning of the prevalence of these phenomena in the sports universe, which remained “opaque”, praising the complaints of key figures from various sectors, from Olympic champions to actresses and other figures. the art.
The COP analyzed the type of sexual violence incident in the sports context and lamented the lack of “safe indicators related to the numbers”, rather a “perception that the problem is not remaining”, the COP called for “creating a set of strategies” before the fight.
“I think we preached in the desert. When we drew attention to the need to formulate strategies to combat both harassment and abuse, as well as other kinds of problems that have arisen within the sports systems, we didn’t have much echo or feedback from point of view on organizations with political or sporting responsibilities”complained.
The COP felt “a little alone in this matter”, perhaps because it “not going by what the media agenda is, very urgent and looking for ready-made answers on issues that require consideration, study and debate”and drew attention “at the risk of abuse and intimidation in the Portuguese sports system”.
“We were a bit alone, isolated, in this observation. We stayed true to our concern and unfortunately, time proves us right, that it is necessary to work on this issue, adopt preventive procedures so that incidents of this nature occur. do not occur, and if they do, find grievance mechanisms”noticed.
Taking into account the panorama in Portugal there is “a lot to walk, a lot to do”, so that this phenomenon “don’t post only if the communicative agenda justifies it”because a complaint has arisen or something has been made public.
“Over the years, there has been various evidence of other situations, some of which have already been forgotten, showing that the subject is not new to the national sports system”he reinforced and asked for a “very determined attitude to combat these situations”.
Diana Gomes hopes the complaint will kill “silence that comes with shame” in the sport
Olympic Athletes Commission (CAO) chairperson, former swimmer Diana Gomes, said Friday she hoped recent allegations of sexual harassment in the sport could help break a “silence wrapped in shame” surrounding the phenomenon.
“It was always a silence accompanied by shame, with the victim always feeling guilty about sexual harassment or other kind of abuse. (…) I love that these barriers are being broken down”explained Diana Gomes in an interview with Lusa.
If she’s never experienced a situation of sexual harassment or abuse “in the first person,” she learned “later, through friends,” of three situations “she had with coaches” throughout her career.
“I was super sad for them, I asked why they didn’t talk about it then. They all replied: out of shame, because they thought they were provocative. They ended up taking a lot of the blame on themselves.”said.
In terms of preventive and combat work, Diana Gomes believes it is essential “a system in which victims feel that they will be protected, that they will not be endangered”.
“This has been the way, they expose it and the victim gets the blame. We miss that last trajectory where the victim is really protected, has tools and a whole system that will project him and not expose him, as it often turns out. the matter. In this case, the players had to be the ones hitting the table, to expose themselves in order to expose the theme”complained.
In the absence of “consolidation of the last part of the solution”, of the reporting platforms and the follow-up and resolution given to each case, the chairman of the collective labor agreement notes the “duty to society” of these sports, which being involved in work in favor of sports.
In this regard, he recently met with the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, João Paulo Correia, to discuss the matter, based on a working group in the government linked to the phenomenon.
At that meeting, she spoke “about the National Observatory on Violence Against Athletes,” of which she is an ambassador, and that organization’s difficulty in “receiving full complaints.”
“Very few reach the end and many, it is believed, are because they see no solution. The path is there and we are starting to think of something to help the system and all victims of violence.”he said.
As for the specific case discussed and published over the past week, he hopes “that the consequence will correspond to what the athletes suffered, and not something light”.
“There must be an example that there is an ending that matches the expectations of the athletes, and eventually other cases will appear”shot.
Source: DN
