Dilma underlines importance of government scholarships for Brazilian athletes

Commenting on the London Olympic Games, president Dilma Rousseff
emphasized that out of the 259 Brazilian athletes who will compete, 111
of them had assistance under the Bolsa Atleta government assistance
program. She added that at the moment, 4,000 athletes get program
benefits.

“This is a program that gives aid to athletes at all stages of
development, from those just beginning to those competing at the very
highest levels, such as the Olympics or even the Para-Olympics,” said
the president.

The government’s 2012 budget sets aside R$60 million in direct aid to
athletes, besides R$200 million for training center modernization and an
additional R$13 million for equipment. There is also a construction
budget of R$1 billion that will be used to build and enclose with
all-weather roofing some 2,800 gymnasiums in public schools next year,
and a grand total of 6,000 gymnasiums (4,000 of them with roofing) by
2014.

According to Dilma, “It is at school, in gyms, during physical
education classes that most children have their first contact with
sports. It is an opportunity to reveal talent, to begin a more healthy
life style and create a love of sports,” she said.