At the Municipal Medal of Sports Merit ceremony, the Mayor of Lisbon highlighted the president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee as a "unique figure in the country", who "marked several generations in Lisbon", always with the aim of "making sport a central piece in education and personal development".

For Carlos Moedas, José Manuel Constantino became "the voice of sport and society, as president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee 10 years ago, and achieved an unprecedented achievement: four gold medals".

A few months before the next Olympic Games, the president of the Lisbon municipality said he trusts the president of the Portuguese Olympic Committee (COP) so that national athletes “achieve a new historic result”.

“It is a source of pride for the Portuguese Olympic Committee that its president is distinguished in this way. And it is also a source of great satisfaction for me to understand that my work in these roles and others is enough to deserve this distinction”, considered José Manuel Constantino.

President of the COP since 2013, Constantino, who was born on May 21, 1950, in Santarém, and graduated in Physical Education at the Instituto Superior de Educação Física, has a long career linked to sport, but also to public administration.

Among the positions held, we highlight the presidency of the Portuguese Sports Confederation, between 2000 and 2002, the presidency of the Portuguese Sports Institute, between 2002 and 2005, and, inherently, the presidency of the National Anti-Doping Council and the presidency of the National Council Against Violence in Sport.

“As long as I can and have the strength, I will make my contribution, knowing that I do not do it because of my passionate relationship with sport. I do it as a Portuguese. Because, as Doctor Francisco Sá Carneiro reminded us, above everything else is Portugal”, concluded the COP president.