José Manuel Constantino expressed his honor and gratitude this Wednesday after being awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Lisbon, taking advantage of the moment of joy to raise awareness about the difficulties that lie ahead for national sport.
“I therefore receive this honor in the house where I graduated in 1975, very honored by such a high award, justified much more by its generosity than by my merits,” declared the president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee (COP), after expressing his gratitude to the Rector , Professor Luís Ferreira, “and in his person to all the Doctors and other interested parties who, in the different instances of the University of Lisbon, considered it justified” to grant him the ‘Honoris Causa’ doctorate.
In a ceremony, presided over by the President of the Republic, which brought together personalities from the past and present of national sports at the Faculty of Human Motricity of the University of Lisbon, in Oeiras, José Manuel Constantino described the moment as one of “joy “, after thanking Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa for “the affection” shown.
“A joy shared with all those who followed my academic, professional and sporting journey, but it is also an act full of enormous responsibility to appear in the gallery of notable personalities and unavoidable names in our history to whom the University of Lisbon awarded this title. that is, before the President of the Republic of my country, whom I greet and whom I sincerely thank for his presence,” he stated.
Constantino confessed that his reaction upon learning that he would receive a doctorate Honoris Causa He cried with emotion, for, first, being able to receive the degree from the school where he graduated and made “the biggest mistakes.” “From the school that has more reasons to complain about me than I do,” she joked.
“The second was being able to receive it while still here,” he said, referring to the health problems he has faced.
In his speech, the top leader of Portuguese sports did not forget the problems of the national sports situation, “particularly vulnerable to a set of threats that, for a long time, have plagued its development process”, pointing out that “the progress, in various development factors, is not reflected in the sustained growth of 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”, in which challenges such as demographics or “the lack of data, information and updated research” stand out.
“The problems of motor and sports literacy, expressed in the national sports situation, expose the need to build a conceptual matrix for sport in Portugal. Sport understood as a public good, whose enormous benefits extend far beyond the individual who practices it. […]. That is also why I am owed a tribute and I now have an enormous responsibility: to live up to knowing how to honor this distinction,” he concluded.
President of the COP since 2013, Constantino, born on May 21, 1950 in Santarém and graduated in Physical Education from the Instituto Superior de Educação Physique, has a long career linked to sport, but also to public administration.
Among the positions held, we highlight the presidency of the Portuguese Sports Confederation, 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 facing an unusual person due to his talent, rigor, responsibility, leadership capacity and a human being with great greatness in ethical, professional and relational principles,” highlighted Carlos Neto, responsible for Praise for José Manuel Constantino, in the ‘ Honoris Causa Ceremony.
Friend and former colleague of the president of the COP, he defined 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 power of empathy in a world increasingly apathetic.”
Source: TSF
