Source: www.guardian.co.tt
Story by: Brian Lewis
Brazil’s preparations for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro are set to be boosted by a new law that allows businesses and individuals to invest part of what they would pay in income tax into Government-approved sport projects. Brazil are aiming for their best-ever performance at Rio in 2016.The Ministry of Sports’ goal is that every Olympic and Paralympic sport has the financial support to fulfill their plans by 2016.
Ricardo Capelli, the director of the Ministry of Sports and chairman of the Sports Incentive Act Technical Committee, is quoted as saying that “the measure reinforces the fact that sports are becoming part of Brazil’s public policy.” Last Saturday, India celebrated the International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket World Cup title. The victory went a long way in lifting the spirit and image of a proud and ambitious nation following the 2010 Commonwealth Games corruption scandal.
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara before the final was quoted as saying that “winning the World Cup after the end of three decades of bloody civil war meant everything for his country. “A lot of people have laid down lives for our country. In this new future, hopefully we can take home the World Cup, and that will be even more occasion for celebration,” Sangakkara noted. Gautam Gambhir, the Indian batsman told a news channel that “India had to win to honour the dead of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.” Virat Kohli, in his first World Cup at 22 said, as he and his teammates hoisted the great Sachin Tendulkar onto their shoulders:
“This World Cup goes out to all the people of India who have come out and supported us. He (Tendulkar) carried the burden of the nation for 21 years, so it is time we carried him on our shoulders.”
For most citizens of T&T, sport is no more than a recreational and leisure activity. Any economic, social, emotional and symbolic investment is viewed as misplaced and counterproductive. In this respect last week’s announcement by Minister of Sport Anil Roberts that 1.4 billion dollars in capital investment on sport and community facilities has received Cabinet approval is a timely boost for local sport. For a period of time it seemed as if Minister Roberts was a voice crying in the wilderness among his Cabinet colleagues as sport, it seemed, remained a low priority discretionary national budget line item.
As many national sport organisations curtailed important programmes, concerns heightened but did not boil over into public spectacle as the stock of goodwill and respect Minister Roberts enjoyed within the local sport fraternity remained in credit even as the complexities of T&T political though leadership impacted on everyday life in sport.
Mistakes and failures/success and excellence are two sides of the same coin. They cannot go one without the other. Those who are success-oriented overtime do much better than those who are negative-oriented. Bear in mind that capital expenditure is not recurrent expenditure. Buying the car is probably easier than maintaining it.
Access to facilities, sports science, sports medicine, expertise on how to prepare, and all the elite support services that our sportsmen and women and national sport organisations might not have the money to buy themselves are important if Olympic and international sporting successes in 2012 and beyond are realistic objectives. But even more important will be grassroots sport in the communities and schools—the heartland where sustainability is driven by whole hearted volunteers.
Countries that place a high priority on sport and those who have sport as part of their public policy must have a compelling reason for doing so. The old adage: “You get out what you put in” applies. Those countries who claim the top prize and glory did not purchase a lottery ticket, while sport can be defined as playing a game; excellence is not a game of chance.
Brian Lewis is the Honorary Secretary General of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee- website: www.ttoc.org. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the TTOC.