Uruguay
The Uruguayan Olympic Committee Asked in Parliament to Preserve Scholarships for High-Performance Athletes
The organization questioned the transfer of funds earmarked for sports support to the new anti-doping structure. It also backed a formula approved in the Chamber of Deputies that, it said, would make it possible to secure resources for those scholarships.
The Uruguayan Olympic Committee raised before the Budget Committee, together with the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, its concern over an article in the Accountability Bill that, it warned, would put at risk the continuity of the sports scholarships of the Deporte Uruguay Foundation.
According to El País, the committee’s concern is linked to the creation of the National Anti-Doping Organization of Uruguay (Onadu), a non-state public-law entity provided for in the bill under review by the Senate. According to that report, the current wording allocates $ 8 million to it, money that until now went to sports scholarships through the foundation.
At the parliamentary committee, the treasurer of the Uruguayan Olympic Committee, Marcos Melazzi, described that situation as an “error to be corrected,” according to the stenographic record cited by El País. There he said that anti-doping funding should be covered by the National Sports Secretariat and not by the foundation, and warned that removing those resources would have a significant effect on sports activity.
As an alternative, the committee supports an initiative unanimously approved in the Chamber of Deputies to finance the continuity of the scholarships. The proposal distributes the VAT on sports betting games so that 45% goes to the Interior Football Organization, 25% to the Uruguayan Olympic Committee, 25% to the National Sports Secretariat and 5% to scholarships.
Melazzi told El País that that last percentage would make it possible to raise between $ 15 million and $ 17 million a year. He also said that the support amounts to around $ 30,000 per month per athlete.
The Uruguayan Olympic Committee currently supports 332 athletes competing in the Odesur Games in the province of Santa Fe. In that context, the organization stressed before lawmakers the importance of preserving these aids to sustain the athletes’ international participation.
During the appearance, the committee’s president, Fernando Ucha, said the proposal is not seeking new contributions but rather that part of what sports activity generates should return to sport to strengthen it.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
