Athlete Ana Cabecinha, from Clube Oriental de Pechão, will participate for the third consecutive time in the Olympic Games, which will be held this year in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The Municipality of Olhão supports the athlete's participation in this important financial and logistical event.
The Olympic Committee of Portugal and the Portuguese Athletics Federation are the entities responsible for granting support to athletes participating in the Olympics.
However, stresses the municipality of Olhão, “although this support is being materialized, these two entities have not yet defined the global amount to be allocated, which has not allowed the athlete and her coach to define the final preparation plan for the Games".
Thus, the financial support awarded by the Municipality of Olhão, in the amount of 7.500 euros, will be used to contribute to the athlete's preparation, contributing to the realization of internships at altitude (in Spain) and to the participation in other international competitions (Challenge Internacional de IAAF March – International Association of Athletics Federations).
According to the mayor, António Miguel Pina, “the financial support awarded is intended to complement the funds to be granted by the Olympic Committee via the Federation, allowing the athlete and coach greater stability and more resources to define a coherent preparation plan and global, for the Games”.
The mayor also highlights the great importance of this support, given the non-definition by the Olympic Committee of Portugal and the Portuguese Athletics Federation of the amounts of support to be granted in the context of Olympic preparation. This is a “situation that is not noticeable, when we are only five months away from the event”, stresses António Pina.
The municipality of Olho also approved the granting of logistical support, which is materialized in the dismissal of service by the municipality's technician and athlete's coach, Paulo Murta.
António Miguel Pina says that “as important as the financial support will be the dismissal of the municipal employee Paulo Murta, Ana Cabecinha's coach, to dedicate himself more exclusively to the athlete's preparation”.
This greater availability to dedicate themselves to training is a long-standing goal of the coach and athlete, which has been postponed because the Portuguese Athletics Federation has failed, together with the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth (IPDJ), to technician's request, so that he could assume those tasks with the necessary dedication.
According to António Miguel Pina, this decision by the municipal executive “does justice to a technician who has contributed so much to the sport's success in the municipality and in the country. . The Clube Oriental de Pechão is a true school for athletes, which currently has seven internationals among the more than 100 federated athletes who train under its colors”.
The mayor of Olhão regrets that the entities that have direct responsibilities in the matter have not been able to resolve these problems in good time, despite Ana Cabecinha already being pre-selected for the Olympic Games, in race walking, as a result of the 4th place obtained in the Beijing Athletics World Championships – 2015.
“The Municipality of Olhão will continue to be effective in supporting the coach and the athlete, because success comes from work, and a job well done is what is planned with time and means, it is not possible to reach the outlined goals without clearly defining themselves what are the paths to be followed”, concluded the mayor.
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