The president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee assumed on Wednesday that the number of athletes who qualified for Paris 2024 is “slightly lower than estimated” and expressed concern that the national mission would have “a very small elite”. “On the one hand, during this journey to the Games we have had a series of very positive signals from the point of view of sporting results. Last year in Olympic sports we had five world champions. It is no joke. But at the same time my fear is always the same: we have a very short, very small elite. All it takes is that something happens to this or that athlete and there are the expected results that cannot be achieved.”, he noticed.

José Manuel Constantino responded to a question about his expectations for the next Olympic Games, after being awarded an Honoris Causa doctorate by the University of Lisbon, during a ceremony that took place today at the Faculty of Human Motricity in Oeiras.

“Right now, the COP’s main concern is to have a more comfortable base of qualified athletes [tem 21 quotas garantidas]. This is our biggest concern as we are currently slightly below the estimated level. Once this problem is resolved, we will of course have to deal with the results of the elite,” he acknowledged.

The president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee would like to see that the modalities in which Portugal has achieved “top results”, such as hunting rifle shooting, canoeing or cycling, can confirm these achievements in Paris 2024. “It is also important that the preparation goes well. There is no shortage of what is needed for preparation. The athletes train where they think they should train, they are guided by those who believe they should be guided, and therefore from the point of view of the conditions offered to the athletes for their sports preparation, everything is fulfilled. Hopefully the results will also meet this goal later,” he said.

Doctor Honoris Causa and emotion with words by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

“Honoured and grateful.” José Manuel Constantino received today the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Lisbon. “I receive this honor in the house where I graduated in 1975, deeply honored by such a high distinction, much more justified by your generosity than by my merits,” said the president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee (COP).

During a ceremony presided over by the President of the Republic, which brought together individuals from the past and present of national sport at the Faculty of Human Motricity, in Lisbon, in Oeiras, José Manuel Constantino described the moment as a moment of “joy “. and after thanking Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “the affection shown”.

“A joy shared with all who have followed my academic, professional and sporting journey, but it is also an act full of enormous responsibility to appear in the gallery of remarkable personalities and inevitable names in our history to whom the University of Lisbon has dedicated this degree, namely in the presence of the President of the Republic of my country, whom I greet and to whom I sincerely thank him for his presence,” he said.

Constantino confessed that he cried with emotion when he heard that he would receive an Honoris Causa doctorate, at a school where he made “many mistakes” and because he was still “able to receive it”, due to the health problems he faced he had to deal with and who forced him to sit in a wheelchair. “I am in a very vulnerable personal situation. I left the hospital two hours ago and I will have to return. This fact breaks me emotionally. Everything they say or evoke to me has enormous emotion. I cry easily. His words are a bit in this line, in the line of who touched me from an emotional point of view, from my sensitivity,” he said.

The context he is currently experiencing, “in a critical health situation”, made Constantino listen to the words of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who presided over the ceremony, “with encouragement, as help, as something that someone who lives what I live would like to hear “, he decided.

In his speech, the supreme leader of Portuguese sport did not forget the problems of the national sporting situation, “which is particularly vulnerable to a series of threats that have plagued the development process for a long time”, noting that “progress in various areas of development factors, does not come reflected in the continued growth of the reference sports indicators”, which should be “a cause for concern and reflection”.

For José Manuel Constantino, sport faces “a future with a high degree of complexity”, highlighting challenges such as demographics or “the lack of data, information and updated research”. “The problems of automotive and sports literacy, which are reflected in the national sports situation, expose the need to build a conceptual matrix for sports in Portugal. Sport is seen as a public good, the enormous benefits of which extend far beyond the individual who practices it. […]. For this reason, a tribute will also be owed to me and I now have a huge responsibility: to take on the task of knowing how to honor this award,” he concluded.

Leader of the Portuguese Olympic Committee since 2013

Constantino, President of the COP since 2013, born on May 21, 1950 in Santarém and a graduate in physical education from the Instituto Superior de Educação Física, has a long career related to sports, but also to public administration.

Among the positions we hold, we highlight the presidency of the Portuguese Sports Federation, between 2000 and 2002, the presidency of the Portuguese Sports Institute, between 2002 and 2005, and, inherently, the presidency of the National Anti-Doping Council and the presidency of the National Council against violence in sports.

“We are confronted with an unusual person for his talent, accuracy, responsibility, leadership capabilities and a human being of great greatness in ethical, professional and relational principles,” emphasized Carlos Neto, responsible for the Praise for José Manuel Constantino, at the ‘Honoris’ ceremony Cause’.

A friend and former colleague of the COP President, he described the honoree as “a figure of national prestige”, decisive in the evolution of Portuguese sport, but also “a sensitive and confident personality”, with a “remarkable empathy in an increasingly apathetic”.