Electoral dispute causes resignation of director and opens political crisis in COB

The dismissal of the sports director of the COB (Olympic Committee of Brazil), Jorge Bichara, is the early start of the entity’s electoral process, which will only have new elections at the end of 2024.

Leaders from different national confederations see in the decision of the current representative Paulo Wanderley the desire to run once again for the position and break a previous agreement made with his deputy, Marco La Porta. It was agreed between them, before the October 2020 election, that La Porta would be the successor.

According to the Pelé Law, enacted in March 1998, presidents of sports entities can be reelected only once. Wanderley has already sought out lawyers to claim that his first term (as of 2017) was a buffer and should not be factored into the electoral rules.

He was deputy and assumed the main post of the Committee after the removal of Carlos Arthur Nuzman, accused of corruption and vote buying in choosing Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics. It was only in the 2020 election that Wanderley won at the polls.

There are disagreements between directors and lawyers, which point to gaps in article 18 of the Pelé Law. The provision says that “they will only be able to receive resources from the direct and indirect federal public administration if their president or top manager has a term of office of up to four years, with a single reappointment allowed”.

The section was included in the legislation in 2013 and went into effect in April 2014. Confederation elections follow the Olympic cycles. They take place in the year of the Games or in the following year: in 2020 or 2021, and before that, in 2016 and 2017.

Last year, the Special Secretariat for Sport denied, for example, the renewal of the certificate for the CBV (Brazilian Volleyball Confederation) due to the reelection of Walter Pitombo Laranjeiras, known as Toroca. He took office in 2014, with the law already in force. He was elected in 2017 and again in 2021. The secretary’s understanding is that the current one would be his third term and, therefore, the certificate was not renewed.

The Confederation filed a lawsuit claiming that, when the president took office for the first time, he had not been elected president, but led to the presidency after the resignation of Ary Graça.

The secretariat was based on the opinions of its legal consultancy and on a recommendation from the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union) to deny the CBV a certificate. The body states that the term of office in force must be respected, even longer than four years, but that the election following the law must, indeed, count towards the limitation of reelections.

The CBV obtained a favorable injunction in a process, which is under judicial secrecy, and had its certificate renewed.

The COB budget for this year is R$ 388,246,000.00. Of this total, R$ 326 million will be allocated to sports activities. For the Olympic confederations, the Committee must transfer R$ 165 million. The money comes from lottery funds.

The dismissal of Bichara, a popular leader among athletes and considered one of those responsible for the best Brazilian result in the history of the Olympic Games, also surprised presidents of confederations heard by the report. The change was decided in isolation by Wanderley. The only one who knew before the announcement was the general director Rogério Sampaio.

Bichara is seen as someone close to La Porta. The dismissed director has an offer to occupy a position in the Special Secretariat for Sport of the federal government.

This Thursday (24), the COB announced that the position of director of sports will be divided between Ney Wilson and Kenji Saito. Wilson will be responsible for High Performance, and Sato, for Sports Development. Both worked at the CBJ (Brazilian Judo Confederation).

This is another problem pointed out by people heard by the sheet. Former national team coach and former president of CBJ, Wanderley has surrounded himself with people from the sport, such as Sampaio, gold medalist in Barcelona-1992.

Part of the charter sees this as a desire on the part of the president to receive greater recognition for the results of the country’s delegations in sports competitions. Something that in Tokyo-2020 was credited, in part, to Bichara.

In the Games held last year, Brazil reached its medal record. There were 21, 8 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze. He finished 12th in the final standings.

“We won’t be 20th, but we won’t be fifth in this short space of time either. We’re in that cake there from eighth to 15th. I don’t intend to go down a little bit. I just want to go up a little. They say that sometimes it’s better to walk back to get a boost, but it’s better not. It’s going to slip, isn’t it?”, he said, in an interview with sheet.

The undeclared goal is to finish in the top ten in Paris.

Last weekend, during the 2nd Congress of the COB, in Salvador, Bichara was relaxed and talking about the immediate plans for the national sport.

It was a known fact among the directors that the director and president did not agree on everything and had already fought in recent months, but it was not expected that any drastic measure would be taken and without any previous signal.

The athletes’ reaction was immediate. Several gave statements of support for Bichara.

“During a lifetime of dedication to the Olympic movement in Brazil, 17 years at the COB, Jorge Bichara changed lives, helped to make dreams come true, to transform the boy who had fun in swimming lessons into an Olympic medalist”, said swimmer Bruno Fratus, bronze medal in Tokyo.

“More than my career, he was concerned about my future, guiding me even in my studies. If he did that for me, since I’m from a small sport in this country of football, imagine what he’s done for the Brazilian sport, it’s no wonder he broke records in Lima-19 and Tokyo-20”, wrote on his Instagram account Ygor Coelho, the country’s main name in badminton.

THE sheet contacted the COB press office to ask for a position from President Paulo Wanderley on the matter. In response, the entity informed that the new sports directors will give an interview this Friday (25). Jorge Bichara did not answer the calls.