Doctors for Olympic athletes warn government of difficulties juggling careers Pedro Diaz, the state secretary for sports, recalled that there was a pilot project to “expand the program” of high-performance support groups at school.

This Wednesday, Portuguese Olympic athletes recounted their experiences of combining medicine with successful careers in a book launch on the topic, and called on the government to promote dual careers.

“We have received it and we will try to go out and play,” responded Sports Minister Pedro Diaz, referring to the challenge left by Marta Onofre during the book launch and opening of the “Medical Olympic Athletes” exhibition. , at the headquarters of the Order of Physicians in Lisbon.

Shortly before this, the athlete who represented Portugal in the pole vault at Rio 2016 said that after returning from Brazil, she, in the company of fellow Olympians Ruy Braganza and Ana Rente, met with officials from the Ministry of Health to discuss the possibility of pole vaulting in Rio. 2016. providing highly competitive athletes took longer to complete the specialty without subsequent response.

After hearing the national record holder in the pole vault say that she hopes that in the future it will be easier for other athletes to combine their sports careers with medicine, Pedro Díaz recalled that there is currently a pilot project to “expand the program” of high school performance support units .

“We, of course, need to strengthen it, but recently it was extended to higher education. We will need your support, especially from the Order of Physicians, in implementing this pilot project because we know we have a significant number of student-athletes in medicine. , who annually face many difficulties in this reconciliation,” he said, promising that the government will do everything to make this pilot project a “success” and that it will be implemented “next year in all higher education institutions.”

The sports minister praised the “outstanding” work of the “doctors and athletes” of those immortalized in the book, which brings together the stories of 18 Olympians who went on to careers in medicine.

Earlier, the “protagonists” of the work gave a speech, with Rui Braganza speaking first, to make sure that “if it weren’t for taekwondo, I wouldn’t have become a doctor.”

“Anyone who is an Olympian has a different way of looking at things, and I hope I can rise to the challenge by bringing the knowledge I gained from 20 years of taekwondo to medicine,” he admitted, unlike Francisco Belo, who hopes to become “as good a doctor” as he is a shot putter.

In addition to the newly crowned Ibero-America champion who was at Tokyo 2020, Marta Onofre also spoke about the “legacy” of “16 years of juggling a dual career.”

“These last 16 years have been years of a lot of work, a lot of pain and a lot of disappointment, which, despite everything, are more constant than the moments when we feel satisfied. These years have allowed me to be the person I am. today,” he said, believing that combining medicine and motherhood “with a successful career is complete madness.”

Also present at the presentation were former President of the Order of Doctors and Olympic shooter António Gentil Martins, Jacques Peña (shooting), Joaquim Ramada (sailing) and the President of the Portuguese Sailing Federation, Mário Quina, representing his father and only doctor. Olympic medal winner: sailor Mario Gentil Quina, silver in Rome 1960.

“All the examples given in this book are more than successful examples,” defended, for his part, José Costa, Secretary General of the Olympic Athletes’ Commission, also emphasizing the fact that these 18 cases are examples of a person who “had the ability to unite two worlds that often do not touch each other and coexist difficultly.”

“Besides the complexity that a dual career entails, medicine has another special feature: it allows Olympic athletes to enhance the Olympic values ​​and humanity that they acquire as athletes,” he emphasized.

After Arthur Lopes, vice-president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee, also called on the government to consider a dual career so that these physician-athletes are provided with “a life that allows them to combine one passion with another,” also the president of the Order of Doctors, Carlos Cortes, said , that there is a need to “do something” and “develop a path together” to help these athletes.