Brazil look to military for medals
RIO DE JANEIRO: The bow string twangs and Bernardo Oliveira, one of Brazil’s army of military-sponsored Olympic athletes, sends his arrow swooping into the target 70 metres away. Mission accomplished.
Oliveira’s path to the podium at the Rio Games is being planned with military precision. Six days a week for five years, he has fired off 350 arrows — amounting to 546,000 arrows to get to the opening day of competition on Aug 6 in Rio de Janeiro’s Sambodromo arena.
Sport is often talked about as a nonlethal form of war, and sports training — like military training — requires strategy, physical strength and mental fortitude.
Brazil’s Olympic machine takes that close relationship further, with 145 athletes connected to the military forming a huge contingent within the 465-strong Brazilian team.
The program dates back to 2008 as preparation for the 2011 Military World Games, which Brazil hosted and ended up winning with the biggest number of medals.
But that sporting influence soon went beyond the barracks, with Brazilian military athletes winning five of the country’s 17 medals at the 2012 London Olympics.
This time round, athletes in the program could win as many as 10 of a possible 30 medals targeted by Brazil in its bid to be among the top 10 countries in the medal count.
As Brazil seeks to learn from similar programs in China and Russia, it has rapidly expanded the program.
Only 76 of the athletes accepted into the elite training are actually career military, while 594 are civilians who won places and then went through hurried military induction and were given ranks of third sergeant.
Oliveira, formally an air force third sergeant, is one of that category, winning access to sporting and medical facilities and getting a monthly salary.
Oliveira says he t akes his mixed role seriously.
“The armed forces defend this country and we are doing the same thing. We bear the flag and we defend the name of our country and in a way we serve it,” he said.