A few days before the start of the largest continental multi-sport event, the Argentine delegation was recognized at the event that took place last Wednesday at CeNARD. For the first time, the athletes who will represent the country in the Pan American and Parapan American Games were together in the delivery of the flag to those in charge of carrying it at the inauguration of Santiago 2023.
A new Olympic cycle began last year in Asunción, in the South American Games, and in a few days the road to Paris will make its obligatory stop in the Chilean capital. Especially for the 21 disciplines that give their direct ticket to the next Olympic Games and another 12 that will register minimum marks or add points to the world ranking.
In this framework, the paddler Sabrina Ameghino and the best sevens rugby player in the world, Marcos Moneta, received the flag from the authorities of the Argentine Olympic Committee and the Secretary of Sports, Inés Arrondo. Antonella Ruiz Díaz, discus and shot putter, and Ángel Deldo, captain of Los Murciélagos, will be the flag bearers at the Parapan American Games. In addition, the anthem was performed by Agustina Araya, a blind taekwondo player.
During the event, a historic measure was announced in which from now on athletes and coaches who are within the sports scholarship scheme will be incorporated into the pension system.
What is expected for Santiago 2023?
In Lima 2019, Argentina won fifth place in the overall medal table in what represented the best historical performance outside the country. There were 101 medals to be below the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Canada. More than four years passed and some athletes retired and in other disciplines there is a transition stage. In conversation with Página/12, Arrondo, world champion with Las Leonas and Olympic medalist, spoke about the expectations of the national delegation: “They are always expected to do well, to do well for us, we know that it takes a lot because we have been in that place with the privilege of wearing this shirt. I live this role as an extension of what happened to me on the field.”
The Mar del Plata official highlighted the importance of everything that is built around national representation and what sport symbolizes as a practice of life: “Argentina has always been a symbol of participation, we like to play everything and it is important to highlight that, From the region it is a country that contributes a lot to world sport and that must be valued.”
Regarding the current situation of national sport, Arrondo declared: “If I go by the indicators that are objective data, Argentine sport is doing very well. The budgetary allocation for sport has improved, which has allowed us to improve the indicator regarding the updating and restructuring athletes’ scholarships, supporting National Federations, incorporating more athletes into the support scheme.”
Other investments that were made were: the plan of 5,000 works that includes public sports infrastructure works, programs for neighborhood clubs that are part of the support scheme, the plan for sports playgrounds and sports schools.
The budget and scholarships
ENARD is made up of the Argentine Olympic Committee and the Sports Secretariat. Athletes and coaches receive two types of scholarships, one from the Secretariat and another from ENARD. “The scheme is complementary, that of the Secretariat covers all scholarship recipients from projection to high performance and that of ENARD is aimed at high performance,” explained the former Lioness.
According to the ENARD website, an athlete of Olympic excellence, who has won a medal, receives 330,000 pesos per month and one with Olympic projection, $250,800. The Pan American excellence, which must be revalidated in Santiago, grants $184,800, followed by the Pan American projection that gives athletes $158,400 monthly. Athletes qualified for the next Pan American Games receive a scholarship of $105,600 and the South American Games medalists receive $132,000. On the other hand, young athletes who are part of the TAR (Transition to High Performance) program receive $66,000. These amounts are added to the scholarships awarded by the Sports Secretariat: $267,532 for Olympic medalists; $222,944 for athletes with an Olympic diploma; $142,683 for qualified athletes and $136,479 for participants in the last Olympic Game. The Pan American medalists receive $178,354 and the Pan American diplomas, $142,166, as do the South American Games medalists. Finally, there are also high performance transition scholarships of $53,506.
With respect to those of the National High Performance Sports Entity, the values are published on the official website. For some time now, scholarships must be validated with sports performance, which represents extra pressure for athletes. According to Inés Arrondo, this paradigm has recently begun to change: “There have been specific situations where the support system for certain athletes and teams has been sustained taking into account that they were in a process of development and transition to high performance. “When we took over there were many women’s teams that did not have support because they had not achieved any achievements. We have to work on strategies to develop high performance.”
The first female President of ENARD stressed the importance of having a comprehensive vision of sports development, from neighborhood clubs to high performance: “Although there is the issue of measuring in consecrations, we must focus on what is done to develop sport as an important activity in our lives as a society and as a right”.
This year the stipulated budget was 1,350 million pesos. On August 29, in DNU 436/2023, an increase was announced for sports, among other things, in which Arrondo commented at the farewell ceremony at CeNARD that an additional 4,911 million pesos were allocated.
Regarding his experience in the position, Arrondo commented: “My experience made me make better decisions because I lived with all the structures of Argentine sports, from the neighborhood plaza to Las Leonas. Understanding how an athlete feels and thinks, what the “Coexisting with the Federation, with the Olympic Committee and seeing what role the State has to fulfill and knowing what has to happen with the implementation of development strategies makes us make better decisions.”
“I try to be in contact with the athletes a lot, that makes us know how everything feels, what happened to me 20 years ago is not the same as what an athlete needs or feels now. I hope we are remembered for having It has been a close management that has worked side by side with the entire sport,” said the woman from Mar del Plata.
2023-10-16 03:01:00
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