Brazil minister shocked by low sports population, expects Olympics to stimulate

Brazil sports minister George Hilton hopes the coming Rio Olympics could encourage more Brazilians to participate in sports as study finds half of the country's populations do not practice any physical exercise.

In a recent exclusive interview to Xinhua at the headquarters of the Sports Ministry, Hilton also took on some topics of the goal and preparations of the Olympics, and Brazilian football.

With just over a year to go until the Rio Olympics, a recent survey collected by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics shows that 45.9% of Brazilians do not practice sports.

"The results are shocking to me," said Hilton. "As a legacy, we are building lots of infrastructures to encourage the sports to flourish after the World Cup and Olympics."

The Brazilian federal government has been working so that the legacy from the world's biggest sport event reaches all states and the Federal District. Over four billion reais in investments have been providing for the building and consolidation of a National Training Network, with units that will benefit Brazilians in all regions and contribute to developing new generations of athletes.

According to Hilton, Brazil has brought new legislation, involving the federal, state and municipal governments, to provide funding from youth programs and school sports to the high performance levels.

"Besides public investment, we will also create rules and establish partnerships with the private sector to invest in sports. There is already a law to encourage the private sector to invest in sports projects," he said.

Hilton pointed out the school and university sports are vital to increase the sports population. Because according to the survey, the main periods which sports are abandoned happen during school or university, within the 16-24 years old group and most of those who have abandoned (69.8%) claim lack of time and other priorities (study, work or family).

"Most of all, the Olympics will leave a legacy for Brazilians. They will encourage Brazilians to participate in sports," Hilton said.

As Olympic host, Hilton also expected Brazilian delegation could achieve a new high in Rio. Olympic host nations typically get a "home-field" bounce, and Brazil is trying to almost double its medal take of 17 from the 2012 London Games.

"We want to finish in the top 10 in the Olympics and top five in the Paralympics. The one billion reais investment is to develop professionals, including physical education experts, nutritionists, and therapists." Hilton said.

This is an ambitious goal, given Brazil came 22nd in the 2012 London Olympics table. Brazil will spend about one billion reais in public and private money in training athletes in the four-year cycle leading up to Rio, double what it spent in the previous four-year cycle.

In contrast with the World Cup, there has been less criticism about the cost of venues, Hilton explained the reason was the transparency involving the financial side.

"60 percent of the money invested in the Olympics has come from the private sector. Besides the great legacy, the Olympics has not led to cuts in budgets for other areas," Hilton said.

Brazil football continues its lackluster performance this year after last year's 7-1 collapse to Germany in the semifinals of World Cup, being eliminated by Paraguay in a penalty shootout in the semifinals of Copa America.

Outside the court, Brazil football is also trapped in corruption scandal as Brazilian Football Confederation vice president Jose Maria Marin was among the officials detained in Switzerland as part of investigations by U.S. and Swiss authorities. The Brazilian Senate has started its investigation into the national football confederation.

"The Brazilian government supports the investigations. And the federal police have already made progress with their investigations. Those found guilty will be punished accordingly," Hilton said.

"There is a law that president Dilma Rousseff sent to Congress to be approved that stipulates 20% of the investment of football clubs must go towards youth development and women's football. We have to focus on youth level and make it even better so that we can produce more Neymars." Endi