During the VI World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture, which ends on Saturday 27 September in Busan, South Korea, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stressed the idea of using sport as a tool for youth education in all aspects: physical, mental and social. Essar Gabriel, coordinator of the first Youth Olympic Games, to be held in 2010 in Singapore, gave a presentation about the event and spoke of the aim of attracting young people to sport and encouraging them to adopt Olympic values as a way of life.

The Youth Olympic Games will bring together 14 to 18-year-old athletes in an event modeled on the Olympic Games. In addition to the various competitions, there will be debates on Olympic values and social issues. This integration between sport and education has been reality for young Brazilians since 2005, when the School Games were created. This year, the event, which ended on Sunday 28 September, involved 2,800 children from 12 to 14 years of age, from 800 public and private sector schools.

“The School Games reflect the ideals behind Rio de Janeiro’s bid to stage the 2016 Olympic Games; these are the same principles that the IOC intends to expand with the Youth Olympic Games. Our project is based on social transformation using sport, education and culture,” explains Mário Cilenti, the Rio 2016 Commission’s international relations director, who participated in the VI World Forum on Sport, Education and Culture.

The School Games developed out of the Brazilian School Games, organized by the Brazilian Olympic Committee for 26 successive years. The 2008 School Games involved nine event categories – athletes, basketball, futsal, handball, judo, swimming, table tennis, volleyball and chess – as well as a wide-ranging cultural agenda. The young athletes attended talks on the Olympic Movement and saw a photo exhibition featuring the Brazilian delegation that took part in the Beijing Olympic Games.

The results of the School Games show that sport is a great transformational force, directly linked to social inclusion and education. And having the Olympic Games in Brazil would boost this movement still more. After all, the young people who are today participating in the School Games dream of the chance of taking part at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. An example is 14-year-old carioca Guilherme Fontanella, who won three gold medals for swimming in the 2008 School Games (50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 4x50m relay). “I dream of representing Brazil at the Olympic Games and I really want the 2016 Games to be in Rio,” he says.

13-year-old carioca Ianah Agnoletto, silver medal-winning javelin thrower, is making similar plans: “My father encouraged me to play sports because he didn’t want me to stay at home watching TV. I’m now training hard to get to the Olympic Games. When Rio de Janeiro is selected to have the 2016 Games, it’ll be even more wonderful.” The same age as Ianah, basketball player Murilo was a star of the School Games. In the opening game of his team from the state of Rio Grande do Norte, he scored 16 points: “Studying is very important, as is sport. My goal is to play for the Brazilian delegation in Rio in 2016.”