2024 Olympics: How is the Brazilian Olympic Committee investing in Olympic sports?
Brazil concluded its participation in the Paris Olympics with 20 medals: three gold, seven silver, and ten bronze. The record number of medals, set as a goal by the Brazilian Olympic Committee, was not achieved, as the performance was lower than in Tokyo 2020. The COB's investment in Olympic sports increased in this cycle ending in the French capital, reaching just over R$ 700 million. But how much did each medal "cost" the organization?
It's impossible to calculate that. There are dozens of variables that prevent arriving at a number capable of balancing that equation. “There are examples of sports that don't go through the meticulous planning process, but still yield medals. So, we can't standardize and say how much a medal costs,” explains Sebastian Pereira, high-performance manager at the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), in an interview with Estadão. “We avoid talking about that. We believe in hard work, planning, and structure. What we do is work to ensure that athletes arrive at the Olympics in a position to compete for medals,” reports Estadão.
Broadly speaking, it's possible to point out that gymnastics and judo, the sports that brought home the most medals from Paris – four each – are two of the confederations that received the largest financial transfers from the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) in the current Olympic cycle, between 2022 and 2024, through the Lottery Law (formerly the Agnelo Piva Law). They each received R$ 35 million over three years. The Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV) is the entity that receives the largest amounts per year. In this cycle, it received approximately R$ 40 million.
The so-called Lottery Law stipulates that approximately 1,7% of the value of bets in all Caixa Lotteries in the country be allocated to the COB (Brazilian Olympic Committee), which then distributes part of this amount to the confederations. It is important to note that this distribution to the confederations is only a part of the total. There are several other resources invested in Brazilian sport, both public and private, such as the Athlete Grant program, club investments, and sponsorships.
The resources secured through the Law have allowed the COB (Brazilian Olympic Committee) to invest in Olympic sports continuously and increasingly. The organization states that it rigorously monitors the application of the funds, evaluating the quality of investments and checking the results obtained by the entities. The release of funds for new projects is conditional upon the submission – and approval – of accounts for previously executed projects.
"After each Olympics, an evaluation is carried out between committee and confederation leaders to understand what went well and what can be improved in each sport. We are already doing this here in Paris with some sports," reveals Pereira. "We can't say that everything is wrong, that it was bad and needs to be reformulated, but we have to carry out a series of evaluations to arrive better in Los Angeles in 2028."
Criteria for resource allocation
The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) uses two administrative and 11 sporting criteria based on results to distribute funds to the confederations. These criteria are: medal in the last edition of the Olympics, medal in the penultimate edition of the Games, multi-medalist sport, finalists in the last Olympic Games, participation in events at the Games (the more athletes qualify, the higher the score), medal in adult and under-21 World Championships, finals in adult and under-21 World Championships, and medals in the Pan American Games, the second most important event of a cycle.
“There are 11 merit-based criteria that form a scoring table, which generates a ranking of sports so that resources can be distributed,” explains Pereira. At the end of each year, the COB holds its assembly to approve the budget for the following year and define how much will be invested in Olympic sports and other sports programs.
Considering only the current cycle, the funds allocated to the confederations have been increasing. The COB (Brazilian Olympic Committee) paid R$ 160 million in 2022, R$ 250 million in 2023, and the projection is that it will disburse R$ 225 million this year, an amount that is projected and will only be finalized at the end of the year.
The Brazilian committee says it is monitoring the technical planning developed in conjunction with the Brazilian Olympic confederations, which includes team training, hiring of coaches, exchange trips, participation in national and international competitions, acquisition of sports equipment and materials, and acclimatization periods for delegations, among other actions.
The transfers are important, but not the only source of income for national Olympic sport. The Lottery Law itself provides for the allocation of resources in areas related to sports development. By the end of 2024, 236,4 million will be invested in Team Brazil Missions; Olympic and Pan-American preparation programs; sports development programs; maintenance and renovation of the COB Training Center; Youth Games; and development of the Olympic laboratory.
Differences
There are significant differences between some sports, which is reflected in the type and amount of investment that the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) makes. Equestrianism, for example, the sport practiced by Rodrigo Pessoa, the Brazilian with the most Olympic appearances, requires less public funding because the horse usually belongs to a single owner.
"We make a direct investment in the leader of the sport, which is the coach. We don't invest in competitions, we don't invest directly in professionals from a multidisciplinary team, except for the coach," emphasizes Pereira, who was a judoka before becoming an executive. He competed in the Atlanta Games in 1996 and narrowly missed a medal – he fought for bronze and lost.
In gymnastics, the amount of public money invested by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) needs to be greater. To properly train the gymnasts, the COB spent just over R$1 million on equipment from a French brand that they would use to compete in Paris. "We analyze the situation according to the demands of the sport," says the COB manager. "The secret, for me, is to always have the best training conditions for our athletes, so they arrive at the Olympics on equal footing with the world's leading powers."
One of the key figures responsible for Rebeca Andrade's success, her coach Francisco Porath, points to the path for new talents to emerge in gymnastics and other sports: grassroots development. "I need a star like Rebeca for new talents to emerge, but I need investment in grassroots development so that we can have a star like Rebeca."
Football, the country's most popular sport, does not receive public funding. The CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) is prohibited from doing so because of its own statutes, as determined by article 136: "The CBF is forbidden from receiving subsidies and donations of public origin or nature."
Furthermore, there is a historic decision by the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) to opt out of using public funds in order to avoid having to account to the government and being scrutinized by audits from the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) and the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).
Athlete Grant (government) and sponsors
More than nine thousand athletes currently benefit from the program and receive grants ranging from R$ 410 to R$ 16,6. Among the 276 Brazilian athletes who competed in the Olympics, 241 are entitled to the financial aid, created in 2004, during the first term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
The benefits are divided into six categories. Those who are part of the "base athlete" or "student athlete" program receive R$ 410 per month. The "national athlete" earns R$ 1.025 and the "international athlete" receives R$ 3.437. The "Olympic and Paralympic athlete," in turn, is subsidized with R$ 3.437.
The "podium athlete" category receives the highest benefit, grouping high-performance athletes who are at the top of the world rankings in their respective sports. Athletes at this level receive between R$ 5.543 and R$ 16.629.
In 2012, former President Dilma Rousseff (PT) signed a law that allowed beneficiaries to combine government aid with other sources of income. In other words, athletes can combine the money granted by the Bolsa Atleta program with earnings from sponsorships, for example.
Funds transferred by the COB to the confederations via lottery law.
in thousands of R$
Investment at the base
The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) is just the tip of the iceberg in national sports. The organization has several limitations, and there are other important actors in promoting national sports, from training athletes to helping them reach high performance levels. Social projects and clubs play an important role in this process.
“We live in a club-based system in Brazilian sports where clubs are extremely overburdened. Clubs are responsible for the initial training, high-performance training, the Brazilian national team, and the Olympic level. It's an overloaded structure,” says swimmer Bruno Fratus, medalist at Tokyo 2020.
Former marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima sees progress in Brazilian sports from his time to today, but points out that there is still a long way to go before the country truly becomes an Olympic powerhouse.
“Brazil is currently experiencing a period of growth and sporting achievements, but we need long-term public policies. It can't be a government policy, a management policy, because sometimes the next administration doesn't continue it, either because they weren't the 'father of the project' or due to partisan issues. If we have a long-term policy, Brazil has all the conditions to become an Olympic powerhouse,” believes the former athlete.
According to Sebastian Pereira, high-performance manager at the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), national sport will only take off when there is integration with other areas, such as education and health, and when sports practices are consolidated in schools. This way, children and young people will study, develop aptitudes in a particular sport, and be honed. "After schools come clubs and social projects. This integration is necessary; otherwise, young people won't reach high-performance levels."
