During the last Congress of the
International Orienteering Federation, held in Strömstad, Sweden,
the Brazilian Orienteering Confederation revealed its interest in the
possible organization of the World Orienteering Championships “in
the future”. Proving that that intention is to be taken seriously,
we get news from the other side of the Atlantic about Brazil's
application to organize the WOC 2021.
Through its Facebook page -
https://www.facebook.com/www.cbo.org.br/
-, the Brazilian Orienteering Confederation (BOC) made known that its
President, Luiz Sérgio Mendes, was recently in Campo Alegre, in the
Santa Catarina state, in search of support for the organization of
the World Orienteering Championships 2021. The initiative follows the
International Orienteering Federation's statement, in the Congress of
Strömstad, that World Orienteering Championships should be held in
countries outside of Europe, an idea enthusiastically supported by
the Brazilian Confederation.
Through its President, Luiz Sérgio
Mendes, the BOC expressed its intention to move forward with an
application in the future, just not specifying when. We know, now,
that the “future” is 2021 and it's Luiz Sérgio Mendes, himself,
who confirms it: “We took the initiative to say, during the IOF
Congress, that Brazil would be a candidate to organize a WOC in the
future. We believe that we have the conditions to go forward with the
application as early as 2021 and we understand that, by proposing the
coming of this event to Brazil, we will be acting according to the
IOF's goal to make our sport Olympic, since it would demonstrate to
the World that Orienteering is, in fact, becoming global.”
Incidentally, regarding the ideal of “Orienteering's
globalization”, Mendes is very clear: “Orienteering can't truly
be present on a Continent if there are no major competitions in it.
It's based on this premise that we intend to apply. I believe that
our sport can't evolve internationally if it doesn't move outside of
Europe.”
The search has already begun
The search for places to host the event
began in Campo Alegre, in Santa Catarina. “We are still in a
preliminary step of the organization and we have several regions in
sight. Santa Catarina was the first to be visited because we believe
that the region has the potential to host the event.” Luiz Sérgio
Mendes also referred Paraná, a neighbouring state of Santa Catarina,
“also with great potential and suitable terrains”. But remembers
that “the decision will not be made only by the BOC; if the
application is accepted, we will have the visit of an IOF
representative who will come to check the areas, helping us to take
the decision.”
“As for the cartography”, Mendes
continues, “these regions have a fairly extensive area that is
already mapped. After the decision about the venue, we will start to
work on nearby areas to host local and regional events, aiming to
offer opportunities for training and competition to those who want to
know the types of terrains in the region”. Mendes also advances
with the CBO's intention to organize, next to the region considered
for the WOC, an international level event in the previous year, “to
enable training opportunities to future participants”, he says.
A winning project
The team in charge isn't lacking
commitment and resolution, facing the task to carry out the project
until the end. “From our point of view, this is a winning project
as it offers the IOF an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment in
presenting its major events to other continents and recognize that
it's necessary to support applications from those countries who are
keen on organizing such events”, the BOC's President says.
Recalling the existence of a Working
Group for South America and the accomplishment in Chile of the first
South American Orienteering Championships recognized by the IOF, Luiz
Sérgio Mendes intends to embrace South America as a whole, through
the organization of the WOC. On this subject, he says: “The
organization of this event in Brazil can boost Orienteering practise
growth in South America, as it will show to the South-American
countries that the IOF is not a distant institution, but a Federation
that really wants to embrace the whole World. This will motivate the
national leaders to organize themselves better, to be more
competitive and will facilitate the presence of their national teams,
since Brazil borders practically all countries, except for Chile and
Ecuador”. But he doesn't hesitate to also reflect about the
importance of the event, internally: “For Brazil, it would be a
unique opportunity to affirm itself as a Regional power, not in the
sense of winning Championships, but in the ability to organize events
and to show that the sport is totally formalized here. That would
also change the internal status of Orienteering, because the coming
of such an important event would give us the visibility that we need
to increase the number of Orienteering fans in the Country”, he says.
2017, a decisive year
Luiz Sérgio Mendes also reveals the
intention to “take this opportunity to improve the general quality
of our major internal events, shaping them in the same way as those
organized in the countries where Orienteering is fully developed”.
Denying the idea of “copying models”, rather than understanding
that “we have to learn from the countries that are ahead of us”,
Mendes concludes that “isolated in South America we can't grow.”
“The next step is to finish the
written part of the project and present it to the IOF”, says Luiz
Sérgio Mendes, adding that the BOC is also in touch with the
Ministry of Sports, preparing a technical note for the Secretariat of
Sport of High-Performance, in order to get support for the cause.
“2016 was the year of the Olympics and the country was focused on
it. The arrival of 2017 changes this situation and opens up good
possibilities”, he concludes.
[Photo: Brazilian Orienteering
Confederation / facebook.com/www.cbo.org.br/]
Joaquim Margarido
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