Bronze medalist at the last Pan American Games, elected best South American swimmer in 2023, Macarena Ceballos, one month before the Olympic Games in Paris, was unable to train this week at the high performance center in Buenos Aires: frozen swimming pool, ” the heat pump broke down.” So the Argentinian breaststroke specialist, who had three South American records, is losing these days “three and a half hours a day by car” to go train at a club in Villa Ballester, in the outer suburbs.
“It’s the same every winter”, resigns the 28-year-old swimmer, who will experience her first Olympic Games in Paris. The Cenard swimming pool (National High Performance Center) has three heat pumps, only one of which usually works. Or rather, worked. High-level sport is sticking its tongue out in Argentina, in a national context of inflation and budgetary austerity, which has seen, for example, the budget of Enard, the high performance entity, frozen at the 2023 level. While twelve-month inflation reached 289%…
“In a country like Argentina today, with people who do not have enough to eat, we are well aware that there are other priorities”recognizes to AFP Diogenes de Urquiza, director of Enard since January, while emphasizing that the poor state of Cenard does not date from today. ” We are working on it… “
Paris, but after?
So, with the Olympics approaching and in this context of limited resources, we had to make choices. First of all, “ensure that nothing is missing for athletes who are already qualified (for the Games) or with chances of being so »agrees Walter Perez, gold medalist cyclist in Beijing in 2008, and president of the Council of High Performance Athletes.
Afterwards, beyond Paris, it will be another story. “Not the end of sport in Argentina”No but “we will have to look at ways to obtain more funds for the whole of sport”, warns Mr. Perez. Because on the side of the State, today led by the ultraliberal president Javier Milei, the message is clear: ” There is no money “.
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In recent months, several athletes and representatives of Argentine sport have expressed their concern about the state of Cenard, the dried up scholarships and subsidies, and more generally the future of amateur sport. In May, judoka Paula Pareto, gold in Rio in 2016 and youth coach, gave up her scholarship to benefit other athletes, after the decision of the Sports Secretariat to reduce the number of judokas from 18 to 4 financially supported.
“When you are an athlete, people demand results from you, but each time they give you a little less, complained the champion, also a medalist at Beijing 2008. The creation of Enard (in 2009) had been an important support, but nowadays it is complicated. » Sports Secretary Julio Garro sharply replied that “undoubtedly consumed by her desire and quest for excellence […] (She) forgets or minimizes the efforts made by the State”.
“Keep the lights on”
Light years away from the millionaire world champion footballers, some 1,200 Argentine Olympic and Paralympic athletes and coaches share variable scholarships, on average 325,000 pesos ($354) per month. Not exactly the moon, even in a country with a $255 minimum wage. “But we make a living from that”underlines swimmer Macarena Ceballos.
The motto of Argentine sport, she smiles, could be ” Against all odds “. “Things have never been easy, and not just today. However, there have always been medals, Olympic finalists”she said, still dreaming of a “real state policy” Sport.
Little on the agenda, with a government “clear on the fact that “the State is withdrawing, it is up to civil society and the private sector to manage!” But how many sports are able to survive solely on the laws of the market? »asks Jon Uriarte for AFP, medal-winning volleyball player in Seoul 1988, renowned coach, and critical voice.
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“How many Argentines can afford a club license for their child? »he insists, emphasizing the imperative to help – whether it is the State, or why not via a tax on sports merchandising – to “keep the light on” in the pool of 12,000 sports clubs in Argentina. Both “punctuality”, “effort”, “listening” schools and a precious social safety net, in a country with 7 million children in poverty.
