Road to the Podium prepares athletes for 2020.
Thirty young people aged 16 to 21 will be selected; tryouts begin on June 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd; those interested must run 600 meters in under two minutes; the program will be overseen by Olympic medalist Joaquim Cruz; see how to participate.
Brasília Agency - The Government of the Federal District will select 30 young people, aged 16 to 21, and invest in their preparation to become Olympic champions. They will be part of the Road to the Olympic Podium program, carried out by the DF Sports Secretariat in partnership with the Joaquim Cruz Institute. The launch and signing of the cooperation agreement took place on Monday morning (14), at the Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center.
The program's mission is to focus efforts and financial resources on training high-performance athletes with a high chance of winning Olympic medals at the 2020 Games. To achieve this, it will invest R$ 1,4 million per year.
The Secretary of Sports for the Federal District, Célio René, explained that the resources for the training of the 30 young people will come directly from private initiatives, through the Sports Incentive Law. "We will start with athletics, but we have goals to implement the program in other sports," he stated.
The young athletes will receive specialized training, support from a multidisciplinary team, transportation, food, dental care, and a stipend of approximately R$1.000. Furthermore, the work of the technical team and the training sessions will be overseen by Olympic medalist Joaquim Cruz, who is the current coach of the US Paralympic team.
Preparation
The Ceilândia Olympic Center will serve as the base for the program, which begins this Tuesday with the opening of registrations for the tryouts. Divided into four qualifying phases, the tryouts will take place on June 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd. One of the program's requirements for the first phase is that candidates be able to run 600m in under 2 minutes. The start of training is scheduled for September 3rd, 2012.
According to Ricardo Vidal de Oliveira, executive director of the Joaquim Cruz Institute, the program uses a training method that has already been successfully employed by teams from other countries. "Therefore, we believe that, with eight years of dedicated work, the group of athletes will be fully capable of competing for medals," Vidal assessed.
Olympic record holder at the Berlin Games (1998), in Germany, marathon runner Ronaldo da Costa, will be one of the participants in the group that will select and train the 30 young people. "With all the structure we will offer, eight years is a reasonable time and will allow us to achieve our goal," said Ronaldo da Costa, who was also champion of the São Silvestre Marathon in 1994.
Road to the Olympic Podium Program
Requirements for participation: Be between 16 and 21 years old and run 600 meters in less than 2 minutes.
Registration for the selection process: From May 15th to 30th, from 8 am to 12 pm and from 14 pm to 18 pm.
Selection schedule
Location: Ceilândia Olympic Center.
First phase (June 2nd): testing for approximately one thousand registered participants;
Second phase (June 9th): test for the 400 best results;
Third phase (June 16): test for the 200 best results;
Fourth phase (June 23): test for the 200 best results;
From July 2nd to August 31st: training for the top 50 results and ranking of the 30 athletes in the program;
September 3, 2012: start of the training program.