Brazil: 21st FGV/CIES Seminar debate on the Paralympic Movement
The 21st Seminar organised as part of the FIFA/CIES International Programme in Sports Management and organised by the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in Rio addressed various aspects of the Paralympic Movement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee.
Over one hundred people took part in the event, which was held on the FGV campus in Botafogo (Rio de Janeiro) on 15 March, including graduates of the 21st edition of the FGV/FIFA/CIES International Programme and students who have just started the course.
The speakers discussed various aspects of the global and Brazilian Paralympic movements, such as their origins and the challenges ahead, Paralympic sport as an instrument of inclusion and the need for Paralympic athletes to ‘win beyond sport’.
The various round tables brought together high-profile guests including, Dr Robert Daniel Steadward, former President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and former member of IOC, Andrew Parsons, President of IPC and member of IOC, Martyn Sybley, Executive Director of Purple Goat, João Batista, former President of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (BPC), Mizael Conrado, former President of BPC, José Antônio Ferreira Freire, current President of BPC, Guilherme Schleder, Sports Secretary, Fábio Augusto Lima de Araújo, National Secretary of Parasports at the Ministry of Sports, Dom Ricardo Hoepers, Secretary General of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, and Sergio Caribé, Public Prosecutor.
During the final debate, which brought the seminar to a fitting close, a number of renowned Paralympic athletes took the floor. These were Daniel Dias, multiple gold medallist at the Paralympic Games / World Championships (swimming) and former student of the FGV/FIFA/CIES International Programme, Ana Carolina Moura, para-taekwondo gold medallist at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games, as well as Yohansson Nascimento, athletics gold medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and Vice-President of the BPC.
The discussions, which bore witness to the long road travelled by the Paralympic movement as well as the great perseverance and strong resilience of the athletes concerned, took place in an atmosphere of warmth and emotion.
It should be noted that the moderators of the round tables were all former students of the FGV/FIFA/CIES Intermational Programme. They were Marcelo Barreto, a journalist with the Globo group, Monica Valentin, an advertising executive and former BPC manager, Renato Marsiglia, a journalist, economist and former FIFA referee, as well as Marcel Ramon Ponikwar de Sousa, an internationally renowned basketball player.
Congratulations to the “Seminar and FIFA/CIES Programme” in Brazil. Many thanks for their motivation and dynamism.
