Former volleyball player Ana Moser, who received the position of Minister of Sports today (4), is the first athlete to hold the portfolio since Edson Arantes do Nascimento. It’s been 25 years since Pelé – who died a week ago and was buried yesterday (3) in Santos (SP) –, left the position he held for three years and five months in the first government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In office, the King of Football played a relevant role in the history of the para-sports movement in Brazil. Three-time world champion for the national team and the greatest player of all time, Pelé was Minister of Sport between January 1995 and May 1998. football, by allowing the athlete to leave the club after the end of the contractual bond. Before, this only occurred upon payment, which became known as a pass. It so happens that the rule, which was named the Pelé Law, also included the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) in the National Sports System. Pelé and João Batista Carvalho e Silva – Personal archive/João Batista Carvalho e Silva “It was a recognition of sport for people with disabilities, which later opened the doors for [inclusão na] Law Agnelo Piva, from 2001, which distributes funds from federal lotteries to sports entities, and many others that benefit parasports”, highlighted the president of the Brazilian Committee of Paralympic Clubs (CBCP), João Batista Carvalho e Silva, to Agência Brasil. CPB was founded on February 9, 1995 and João Batista was precisely the president of the entity at the time that Pelé was Minister of Sports. For the first audience I had with Pelé, I asked him to lend us his image so that we could turn a page in sport for people with disabilities in Brazil, which had existed since 1958 and few people knew what it was. He said he would help us in any way he could. That’s what he did. Pelé brought us closer to sponsors, artists, the media. Didn’t go to the Atlanta Olympics [Estados Unidos], in 1996, but he was with us at that Paralympics”, he recalled. One of the members of the delegation in Atlanta was Ádria Santos, owner of 13 Paralympic medals in her career, four of them gold. to the podium in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, winning silver in all three disputes. She fondly keeps the photo of this last event, in which she is next to guide Gérson Knittel and has her arm raised by Pelé. Sport Pelé raises the arms of multiple track and field champion Ádria Santos and her guide, Gérson Knittel, at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games – Personal archive/João Batista Carvalho e Silva “He jumped over the fence to greet me. It was incredible, not only because I got to know Pelé personally, but because it was such a special moment for me, competing [em uma Paralimpíada], knowing that he was watching me, admiring my result, receiving that affectionate hug. When he greeted us and we turned to the audience, everyone recognized him and started to applaud”, said Ádria. Pelé was veiled on the lawn of Vila Belmiro, Santos stadium. For 24 hours, more than 230 thousand people from all corners of Brazil and the world were at the funeral, which was attended by around 1,100 journalists from 32 countries. Numbers that give a little of the dimension of the Athlete of the Century, whose legacy goes beyond the sport in which he is King. loses this exceptional human figure. I had the opportunity to be with Pelé in Brazil and abroad. He had a power of attraction, a thing few people have. And humility. Sport for people with disabilities owes a lot to Pelé”, said João Batista. “We lost a great idol. My father watched him a lot. People learn about his story from his parents and grandparents and start to admire him for the work he did and for the passion he had, wearing the shirt, carrying the name of the country. We sometimes convey this passion to people when we do something we love”, added Ádria.
Agência Brasil
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