The Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC) has opened a new source of opportunities in the country´s sport industry by announcing its intention to expand the range of sporting disciplines that Brazil will be able to compete for medals in by Rio 2016. Over the past few Olympics Brazil has averaged medals in around eight sports and the aim is to expand this to 13 for South America´s first ever Olympic Games.
BOC president Carlos Arthur Nuzman made the announcement in Brasilia at a ceremony for the country´s Youth Olympics Team, calling for the federal government to invest more in high performance sport to help reach the goal.
The announcement comes just a month after the Brazilian Ministry of Sport toured many of Australia´s key sporting facilities and institutes of sport (see report here) and it is hoped that the new, formal announcement will lead to greater collaboration between the two countries as Brazil seeks to emulate Australia´s recent Olympic success.