″ There is sporting value in Portugal to be able to go a little further ″
The president of the Olympic Committee of Portugal (COP), José Manuel Constantino, made the first public assessment of Portugal’s best-ever participation in the Olympic Games
The president of the Olympic Committee of Portugal (COP) acknowledged that the provision of the Portuguese Mission to the Tokyo’2020 Olympic Games exceeded his expectations, although it did not reach the limit of its sporting value.
“The performance in Tokyo’2020 exceeded my expectations, it did not exceed the limit of what I considered, from a sporting point of view, that Portugal could achieve, because I find value in our Olympic Mission so that the results may have been different for the better of the that they were “, admits José Manuel Constantino.
In what was the first public assessment of Portugal’s best participation in the Olympic Games ever, the COP president considers that “the results were exceptional when compared with the historical” of the national missions, showing himself “fully satisfied and recognized to the athletes, coaches and sports federations for the work they have done”, he told Lusa.
However, José Manuel Constantino assumed that he believed and believes that the sporting value of the missions is superior to that demonstrated in the context of the Olympic Games.
“This had already happened in Rio – I think there was sporting value for us to have different results than we had [o bronze da judoca Telma Monteiro] – and feared that a situation of a similar nature might happen. I was naturally very satisfied with having achieved the result that was achieved, both in terms of podium positions and in terms of first places in the final classifications of the different sports, but I still recognize that there is sporting value to being able to go one. a little further “, he added.
In the Japanese capital, Portugal won four medals – Pedro Pablo Pichardo’s gold in the triple jump, a discipline in which Patrícia Mamona achieved silver, and bronzes by judoka Jorge Fonseca (in -100kg) and canoeist Fernando Pimenta (in K1 1,000 meters) ) -, 11 diplomas, including fourth place by Auriol Dongmo, in the shot put, and the best score ever in the Olympic Games (78 points, qualified to athletes classified between first and eighth places, 27 more than in Athens2004)
Even so, the Olympic leader trusts that “the sporting limit” of the Portuguese representation “has not been reached”.
“If we maintain this sporting level that our Olympic Mission had in the last two editions of the Games, I believe it is possible to have the ambition of achieving results that are even superior to those that were not exercised in the previous year”, he stressed.
Constantino confirmed that the high point of the presence of Portuguese athletes in Tokyo2020 “were the medals that were won”, excluding a controversial point between Olympic champion Pedro Pablo Pichardo and his predecessor Nelson Évora, gold in the same discipline in Beijing2008, as the “minus” of national participation in the Olympic Games.
“The incident that occurred was handled by the Head of Mission [Marco Alves] at the time he had to treat him. The president of the COP spoke in terms that he thought were most appropriate at the time he considered appropriate and this is a matter that is closed for us,” he said.
Nelson Évora, who said goodbye to the Olympic Games in qualifying, supported the bronze medalist Hughes Fabrice Zango, from Burkina Faso, in the final that gave Pichardo the gold, which led the COP president to remember, at the time, that the athletes he was representing Portugal and not himself in the Japanese capital, appealing to the “sense of companionship, collaboration, mutual help, reinforcement” of the elements of the national mission.
The Olympic leader insisted that, from the COP’s point of view, “what there was to say about this matter has been said”, but he did not fail to confide in having been “very pleased” to have seen the two athletes greet each other “in a healthy situation and recognition “, ancestor of people, at the Centenary Gala of the Portuguese Athletics Federation.
José Manuel Constantino also declined to reap “laurels” for what happened in Tokyo’2020, noting that “the contribution that the COP makes to this success [da Missão] is relatively small, it has no meaning”.
“As long as it doesn’t complicate life for people on the ground in their sport preparation, this is already recognized and commendable. Of course, if things go wrong, the first person responsible is the COP, because the COP heads the Mission and, therefore, there is no way to avoid this assessment. It must be recognized that the merit belongs, above all, to athletes and coaches, clubs and federations. They are the ones who prepare, they are the ones who train, they are the ones who compete, and we are we have the obligation to do everything in our power so that they only worry about it, “he added.
The president of the COP, who has already announced a re-candidacy for the March 10 advantages, also highlighted, in his balance sheet, what will presumably be “the best financial result in the history” of the organization, reached in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic and despite the extra expenses (they exceeded by more than 50% what was budgeted for the Games) that the entity had “in terms of transport and accommodation” due to the postponement of the competition.
“As this is not a goal that is at the forefront of our concerns, in addition to having financial balance […], I believe that we are going to have a very significant financial performance and that this performance results, above all, from having been able to improve our performance from the point of view of sponsorship revenue, both private and from the International Olympic Committee, and this has helped to compose our final financial result, which will be closed at the end of December, “completed.