Population’s physical activity level not rising after Olympics: ‘missed opportunity,’ says UFPel professor | Rio Grande do Sul

Population's physical activity level not rising after Olympics: 'missed opportunity,' says UFPel professor |  Rio Grande do Sul

NS Increasing the level of physical activity of the population in between legacies The host cities are on the Olympiad list when applying to host the event.

However, an unprecedented poll appeared on the cover of the scientific journal The Lancet in the Saturday issue (31) indicating that Prediction not confirmed.

“The ability of the Olympic Games to promote the health of the population has not been realized,” the publication says.

One of the eight authors of the international article is a Brazilian epidemiologist Pedro Hilal, a professor at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), in the south of Rio Grande do Sul. ‘missed opportunity’ To the community at least on this point. See the video above.

“There is a missed opportunity. The city hosts the largest sporting event in the world, but its residents don’t get more active after the event,” he said.

In addition to Halal, the article was signed by researchers from countries that have hosted the Olympic Games in recent decades, such as Australia, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as Ireland. There is also another Brazilian author, Rodrigo Reyes, of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná.

The demand for physical activity does not increase after the Olympics, according to research – Photo: Cesar Lopez / PMPA

According to the survey, the demand for sports and exercise increases during the Olympic Games, but The population’s interest is limited to internet searches.

“It has a huge impact on the search, on Google, for things related to physical activities. People are more interested in the topic. But, in practice, the Olympics go by and the number of physical activities goes back to what it was before,” Halal says.

Cover of the scientific journal The Lancet, with an article on physical activities – Image: Reproduction / The Lancet

The UFPel professor cites the example of sports that received a lot of public attention during the Games period, such as skateboarding, after Rayssa Leal’s silver, and judo, with bronze by Daniel Karnin and Mayra Aguiar. However, personal desire alone is not enough. It is necessary to have a structure.

“It will happen that a young girl will be interested in figure skating and she will notice that skating in her city is very difficult, because there is no place, especially for poor children. There is no public place, for example, for judo,” he embodies.

In Rio de Janeiro, host of the 2016 Olympic Games, event organizers’ Social Legacy Report talks about “expanding citizens’ sport and physical activity programmes.”

The study published in The Lancet reports data indicating a small, but not significant, increase in the population’s participation in physical activities in Rio de Janeiro.

Hallal points out that “this is mainly explained by the lack of specific investments in the structure, for example, the sports facilities available to the residents of the entire city which are not only temporary.”

Rio 2016: 5 years later, part of the Olympic legacy is yet to be realized

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