The State increased the resources for the Olympic and Paralympic preparations by 6.3 million euros. The Paris 2024 Olympic project has a budget of 22 million, 3.2 million more compared to Tokyo 2020 (18.8). The Paralympic preparation costs 9.2 million euros – another 3.1 million euros. It is the largest financial investment in an Olympic and Paralympic project and justified by the government, in the Council of Ministers of September 28, with the “public interest” of representing Portugal.
The Olympic Committee of Portugal (COP) had submitted a proposal asking for €29 million, with President José Manuel Constantino expressing concerns about the delays and insufficient funding caused by the snap elections and the resulting postponement of the 2022 OE (the only one for 2023 was delivered to the General Assembly of the Republic on Monday).
The final amount awarded was 22 million, higher than Tokyo 2020’s 18.8 million and Rio 2016’s 16 ME. The amount is being released in phases by the Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth: 4,770 million later this year; 6,330 million in 2023; 6,100 million in 2024 and 4,800 million in 2025.
The contracted targets required more investment. In Tokyo 2020, the COP took two podiums and 12 diplomas (ranking eighth place), as well as 26 results in the top 16, and returned with four medals, in what was the best Portuguese participation ever: gold of Pichardo ( triple jump), silver from Patrícia Mamona (triple jump) and bronze from Fernando Pimenta (canoeing) and Jorge Fonseca (judo). They are all part of the Paris 2024 project, so hopes for new medals remain.
parity and medals
International achievements, especially in athletics, judo, canoeing, cycling and swimming (with Diogo Ribeiro, triple world champion in the juniors and bronze medal in the senior Europeans in the spotlight), even taking into account the fact that the next matches (the same number of athletes, men and women), bodes well for the Portuguese mission in Paris, in a year and a half. But achieving more than three podiums would be the COP’s most ambitious project ever.
The size of the delegation will depend on who qualifies and on certain quotas, but since the number of women must be equal to that of men, it will be difficult to identify the 107 athletes of Atalanta 1996 (the largest delegation), as in Tokyo 34 Portuguese were present in 92 athletes.
The contracts for the Paris 2024 Olympic program will be signed today between the IPDJ and the Portuguese Olympic Committee, at the High Performance Tennis Center of the Centro Desportivo Nacional do Jamor. In the case of Paralympic preparation, it is between the IPDJ, the National Institute of Rehabilitation (INR) and the Paralympic Committee of Portugal.
The ceremony will be attended by the Deputy Minister and Parliamentary Affairs, who has the portfolio of Sport, Ana Catarina Mendes, the Secretary of State for Inclusion, Ana Sofia Antunes, and the Secretary of State for Youth and Sport, João Paulo Correia.
The funds are channeled to the committees, which then sign agreements with the respective federations. At the same time, athletes receive subsidies, which arise from achieving results at European, World and Olympic Games. The value assigned to each medal has not changed and is the same for Olympians and Paralympic Games. Gold is worth 50,000 euros, silver 30,000 and bronze 20,000. An Olympic or Paralympic record is rewarded with a bonus of 15,000 euros (equivalent to a world record).
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place between July 26 and August 11, while the Paralympic Games will take place between August 28 and September 8.
Source: DN
