PARASPORT PUBLIC POLICY: PARALYMPIC ATHLETE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM IN MATO GROSSO DO SUL / BRAZIL

Abstract

The main goal was to analyze the Paralympic Athletes Scholarship Program at Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, based on the number of scholarships, sports modalities and categories. The research was descriptive exploratory, with data from website Sport Intelligence, between the years 2004-2020. We identified 114 Paralympic athletes, 77 male and 37 female, contemplated in 12 Paralympic modalities, with emphasis on athletics. There were 484 scholarships distributed among the categories, predominance the national category (61.98%) and student category (12.39%). From these athletes, there were modifications from categories, 45.61% kept the scholarship for four years or more and 54.39% had the scholarship between one and three years. We concluded that the Paralympic Athletes Scholarship Program followed the Federal Government budget, with high investment with the Brazilian Medal Plan 2016, and the lower investment in 2020, due to the pandemic and government priority.

Keywords:
Sport; Paralympic athlete; Athlete promotion; Diversity.