Alberto Murray Neto Runs for COB President

(ATR) Alberto Murray Neto officially throws his hat into the ring for the presidency of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB).

The registration period to run for COB positions including president and vice-president opened on Monday. The application process closes on Sept. 8. The COB says the election will be held in the last quarter of 2020 on a yet to be determined date.

Current COB president Paulo Wanderley has not yet announced whether he is running for re-election.

Murray, a lawyer and activist, resigned as chair of the Ethics Committee of the COB in January over changes in the NOC’s by-laws under Wanderley that Murray says led to major setbacks in governance and ethics.

At the time, he promised to run for the presidency of the COB. In officially announcing his candidacy, he provided an update on his efforts since then.

"Like everything I do, my campaign started in February, with absolute transparency. Our group has prepared a POSITIVE AGENDA that covers all sectors of Olympic sport and proposes significant changes in the concepts that preside over the COB, its relationship with Confederations, Athletes, Coaches and society in general," Murray said.

He proposes to make the COB for Brazil and return it to being the moral reserve of the sport. Murray says it is the first time in history that such a document has been made so that it can be democratically debated by society.

Should Murray win he would be following in his grandfather’s footsteps.

Major Sylvio de Magalhães Padilha was an IOC member for 31 years and served as COB president. He died in 2002.

Murray regularly invoked the work of his grandfather as he criticized Carlos Nuzman’s tenure as COB president from 1996 to 2016. Murray opposed the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio as well as the 2016 Olympics, both pet projects of Nuzman. Murray said the projects did not serve athletes in Brazil and were used by Nuzman to boost his international profile.

Nuzman is on trial in Rio for facilitating bribes to IOC members to secure their votes for Rio 2016. After his arrest in 2016, Nuzman resigned from COB as well as his honorary IOC membership. His trial has yet to conclude.

"Democracy in sport has come a long way. But it is not definitively consolidated," said Murray.

"And people know, more than that, they are sure that in order to definitively bury that nefarious past, we have to take a few more steps forward."

Written by Gerard Farek

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