Olympics

• The national delegation went from having the best performance in its history, in Tokyo 2020, to one of the weakest. The last time it was left out of a podium at the major event was in Sydney 2000.

Venezuela left the Paris 2024 Olympic Games without any medals. This is the most disappointing performance for the national delegation in 24 years. The last time that no Venezuelan was able to get on the podium of the universal event was in Sydney 2000. In fact, with 32 athletes competing, the country had the smallest delegation since Atlanta 1996, where it also did not win any medals.

Venezuela was coming off its best performance in history at the Olympics, when it won four medals, one gold and three silver, at Tokyo 2020. Although the national delegation took home seven Olympic diplomas in Paris, these are not counted: they only have added value to recognize the performance and dedication of the athletes. In addition, the absence of Yulimar Rojas due to injury weighed heavily.

“For three years, there was talk about Venezuela’s best performance at the Olympic Games, without any support for the work that reflected that result. More than failure, it is the inability to maintain a discourse that Venezuela is a power, that it is moving towards a sporting future, that it has a golden generation. That is simply a political slogan,” he said. Juan Jose Sayagoa journalist specializing in Olympism, for The Diary.

For Sayago, it was necessary to have a plan after Beijing 2008, when 110 athletes qualified for Venezuela. “We have not had National Games since 2011. That is to say, the foundation of the Olympic movement spent more than a decade without competing internally. So, how do you know what the biometric and biomechanical requirements of our athletes are, if you don’t even see them compete within the country? That is also where your organizational capabilities are measured in multidisciplinary events,” she said.

The sports journalist added: “Venezuela has not had a real multidisciplinary event since 1998; because the ALBA Games do not count for anything, and the last ones (2023) left a lot to be desired, with youth teams and low-level guests. I also don’t see prepared people in sports institutions. Many coaches left and today they are giving medals to other countries. That is the real reason for our decline.”

Venezuela’s worst Olympic cycle

High performance sport is qualitative: it is measured by results that translate into participants, placement and medals. Professor Eduardo Alvarezformer president of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV), considers that these were the worst Olympics of the last seven for the national representation, in terms of results and classifications.

At the Bolivarian Games in Valledupar we lost again to Colombia and the gap widened to more than 110 medals. Chile displaced us from fourth place at the South American Games in Asunción. For the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, although we maintained fourth place, we dropped considerably in the number of medals. At the Pan American Games in Santiago we fell to 10th place, displaced by Chile and Peru, and harassed by the Dominican Republic and Ecuador,” he declared to El Diario.

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Álvarez headed the COV for four periods: 2006-2009, 2009-2012, 2012-2016 and 2017-2020. He was also president of the National Sports Institute (IND) from 2002 to 2004; and Minister of People’s Power for Sports from 2006 to 2008.

Regarding his management, he commented that the resources were assigned in operational plans, discussed by the technicians and approved by the board: “These were transferred to each national federation, according to the manual of the internal control of the IND.”

“The planning of the federations, although discussed with high performance, was not fulfilled. In a large percentage, resources were dwindling. I think it is important that support should be provided before, during and after the qualification. The Olympic cycle should be seen as a whole, not in a fragmented way,” he said.

For the former COV president, the closer athletes qualify for the Olympics, the less chance they will have of doing well: “An athlete who achieves his qualification in the first two years (of the Olympic cycle) will be training to compete in the Olympic Games. Qualifying quickly is the only opportunity to place ourselves in acceptable positions or groups.”

The few things worth saving from Paris 2024

In her first Olympic Games, Anyelin Venegas came close to reaching the podium in weightlifting, finishing fourth in the women’s 59 kg: she was 5 kg away from winning bronze and 6 kg away from silver. The same applies to Greco-Roman wrestling for Raiber Rodríguez, who finished fifth in the men’s 60 kg.

The seven Olympic diplomas

-Men’s epee team (fencing)

-Raiber Rodriguez (Greco-Roman wrestling)

-Rosa Rodriguez (hammer throw)

-Yohandri Granado (taekwondo)

-Anyelin Venegas (halterophilia)

-Keydomar Vallenilla (weightlifting)

-Naryury Pérez (weightlifting)

“We have talent in many disciplines, but where are they? Look at Leslie Romero, representing Spain in climbing; or Daniella Ramírez, of Venezuelan parents, who won silver for the United States in artistic swimming. And there could have been several others like that, who stayed out or returned. Because she belongs to a non-Olympic discipline, like the duathlon, Joselyn Brea returned to Venezuela, but she has a Spanish passport and has competed for that country,” said Sayago.

Venezuela’s future in the Olympics

Oswaldo NarvaezFIBA ​​technical delegate, former director of national teams at Fevebaloncesto (2019-2023) and professor of sports management at the Metropolitan University (Unimet), proposes that there be a modification of the Sports Law and set as an objective the classification of, at least, two sports together for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

“The support of the State must include the promotion of the holding of National Sports Games and the financing of federations with bold plans, in order to (then) have our elite competing against the elite. Centralization has not been good, removing technicians and leaders who have knowledge even less. There is time to reorient,” Narváez published in X.

The process is very complex, and must involve at least 2 team sports and multiple classifications in a variety of sports. To do this, the Sports Law must be modified. State support must include the promotion of the holding of National Sports Games…

— Oswaldo Narvaez (@oswaldonarvaez) August 11, 2024

Sayago, for his part, says that the plan should focus on Brisbane 2032, given that the Olympic cycle of Los Angeles 2028 “is lost”. In this regard, he points to those in charge of the Ministry of Youth and Sport and insists that “there is no plan”.

“They are far from the international reality that our sports structure needs to develop. Since it was discovered that men’s football, without results, moved masses, the national delegations lost interest. Among them, is that the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games were bought a day before. There was also no real information about the number of qualifiers, we only see 100 people going to Paris,” he said.

He also believes that there is no authority to manage resources or sports training plans: “Everything depends on what the Ministry says: they are political agents who have no idea or feeling about sport, and who follow a line from the State. That is where the failure of this model lies. Without money or trained people, there will be no results.”

This was the fifth consecutive Olympic Games with at least one medal for Venezuela. The next delegation has the task of reversing the situation. However, the talent and effort of the athletes could be insufficient when there is no planning for the next Olympic cycle.

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