Jose Manuel Constantino said the levels of demand were hurting the national sport
Pedro Pablo Pichardo entered into controversy due to the tense relationship between him and his club Benfica, but the President of the Portuguese Olympic Committee (COP) revived an older controversy, related to the naturalization of Portuguese athletes, which also included the Portuguese Olympic Committee. hero.
In an interview with Lusa, José Manuel Constantino expressed his fear that granting citizenship to the athlete would be detrimental to other similar cases, even stating that there had been a “change of attitude” in the services that grant naturalization.
Currently, for this process to be opened, foreigners must have lived in Portugal for at least five years, however, in the case of athletes with an exceptional CV, this requirement can be ignored.
“This creates another problem of enormous severity. As a result of this controversy, there has been a change in the position of citizenship recognition services […] “With regard to the requirements for granting Portuguese citizenship,” the COP's senior director said, adding that the issue had a greater dimension given that he was an athlete who won the gold medal in a category in which Portugal already had an Olympic champion. .
If this happened to a 200-meter runner, decathlete, or pole vaulter, the argument wouldn't be the same.
It is worth noting that the current Olympic triple jump champion was the target of criticism from Nelson Evora when in March he questioned the speed of the process that allowed Picardo to become Portuguese, even going so far as to say that the Benfica athlete had been “bought out”.
“If this happened to a 200m player, a decathlon player or a pole vaulter, the controversy would not be the same,” Constantinou emphasized, also because of “the club’s involvement in these issues.”
He stressed: “I have an obligation to alert the country, and to understand that the decision being adopted regarding granting Portuguese citizenship to people with exceptional sports resumes is not in our interest, but rather harmful to us.”
These statements are due to the fact that he believes that the political authority in the sporting field must explain why some athletes with “relevant CVs” do not enjoy the same exemptions, giving the example of athletes Agate de Sousa (São Tomé) and Roger. Iribarne (Cuba) and Reinier Mena (Cuba).
It is worth noting that the 23-year-old runner from Sao Tome recorded the fourth best mark for 2023 in the long jump, while the Cubans achieved fifth place at the European level in the 110-meter hurdles and third best in the world in the long jump. 200 meters in 2022, respectively.
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