The crisis in Venezuela limits the preparation of its athletes

• Luis Salas, a high-performance coach, said that the lack of investment in sports infrastructure in the country makes it difficult for athletes to compete abroad | Main photo: EFE

The economic crisis in Venezuela is taking its toll on the training of athletes, putting the country at a disadvantage compared to those who do not suffer financial difficulties like those faced by the Caribbean nation, according to experts.

And in the midst of this scenario, the government of Nicolás Maduro blames international sanctions, mainly those imposed by the United States government.

High performance coach Luis Salas told the agency EFE that when a country does not have a strong economy, it is difficult to “compete once morest the great powers,” which have greater resources to invest in trainers, infrastructure and in sectors such as medicine and technology.

“Countries with certain weaknesses will not be able to count on the benefits guaranteed by monetary resources,” said the former director of High Performance of the Ministry of Youth and Sport.

In his opinion, Venezuela and Cuba have a similar situation: they are countries with “economies that are battered” and do not have a minimum infrastructure.

He added that in Venezuela, although there has been a rescue of sports facilities, much more investment is still needed to be able to compete with the major powers.

Photo: EFE

Lack of investment in sport

Luis Salas said that because of the sanctions, money stopped coming into the Ministry of Sport, and that also led to a cutback in the situation of the facilities.

According to the Venezuelan Anti-Blockade Observatory (OVA), the country’s receipt of dollars fell from 39 billion in 2014 to 743 million in 2020, meaning that in seven years Venezuela “lost 99 out of every 100 dollars it received.”

In May 2024, the country closed the first four months of 2024 with partial losses of more than two billion dollars in its income as a result of the sanctions, despite the fact that 88% of the days counted by the president correspond to the period in which the measures were suspended.

Experts insist that the crisis, while exacerbated by sanctions, especially those imposed on the oil sector, is rooted in factors such as corruption, mismanagement and controls on the economy.

According to the firm Ecoanalítica, the Venezuelan economy contracted by 75% from 2014 to 2020, and then registered growth of 1% in 2021, 8% in 2022, and 1% last year.

Human resources, a priority

The high-performance coach assured that Venezuela might currently have a better position at a global level.

To do this, it is necessary to invest not only in infrastructure, but also in the training of human resources, both physical education teachers and coaches.

“One of the main indicators of development in a powerful country is the number and quality of physical education teachers,” said Salas, who explained that these professionals are the ones who can and should “report potential talents from schools to sports clubs.”

According to his calculations, there is a shortage of some 60,000 physical education teachers in the country, 20,000 more than almost two decades ago.

Venezuelans qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics

A total of 33 Venezuelan athletes secured their ticket to the Olympic Games. These are some of the qualifiers:

-Patricia Ferrando – Horse riding (dressage)

-Luis Fernando Larrazábal – Horse riding (jumping)

-Raiber Rodriguez – Greco-Roman Wrestling (60 kg)

-Betzabeth Arguello – Freestyle wrestling (53 kg)

-Soleymi Caraballo – Freestyle wrestling (68 kg)

-Anthony Montero – Wrestling (74 kg)

-Jesus Limardo – Fencing

-Ruben Limardo – Fencing

-Francisco Limardo – Fencing

-Katherin Echandia – Halterofilia

-Alfonso Mestre – Swimming (400 and 800 meters freestyle)

-Alberto Mestre – Swimming (50 meter freestyle)

Trade unions, NGOs and opposition leaders say that the shortage of educators in general and the lack of other professionals are consequences of migration, estimated at some 7.77 million Venezuelans, according to the Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants (R4V), a figure that the government reduces to less than 2 million.

Salas pointed out that the number of coaches in general is unknown, because “there is no data as such”, except for high-performance coaches, which – he indicated – do not exceed 400.

He therefore insisted on the need to create an entity that brings together the coaching profession and that, among other tasks, keeps a record of how many there are, identifies needs and formalizes those who are qualified for the task, in order to avoid endangering competitors.

With information from EFE

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