Brazilian president hopeful Dilma Rousseff, one of the favourites thanks in part to her being the candidate from the same party as popular incumbent President Lula, has made some encouraging comments for Brazilian sport development during a meeting with the Rio 2016 organising committee.
On top of reinforcing the existing commitments made by the government to the International Olympic Committee, many of which she was directly involved in as a minister in the Lula leadership structure, Dilma also promised to invest in high performance sport and turn Brazil into a sports power, primarily by expanding and increasing the investment in various incentive sports programs, including the construction of 800 multi-sport complexes as part of the country´s wider “Acceleration Growth Program”.
Dilma´s discourse also incorporated the idea of using sport as a tool for social change, including the statement “the formation of citizens through values that are in the scope of healthy sports competition”.
As mentioned in previous reports, the Brazilian sport ministry is visiting Australia during August to observe our world renowned high performance and community sport programs and facilities, providing further evidence that this new focus on sport development in Brazil could be a fantastic opportunity to strengthen ties between the two countries.