Ricardo Leyser Appointed Brazil's Acting Sports Minister UPDATED

(ATR) Ricardo Leyser has replaced George Hilton as sports minister of Brazil.

The office of president Dilma Rousseff announced the change on Wednesday. In a statement Rousseff thanked Hilton for his service and named Leyser the acting sports minister.

Leyser told Around the Ringsthat he thanked Rousseff for the trust she placed in him to lead the sports ministry, especially during the political crisis.

"I reaffirm the commitments of the Brazilian government into the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and I reiterate our support to the preparation of athletes who will defend Brazil in the Rio 2016 Games," Leyser said to ATR.

"I believe my 13 years of experience in the ministry of sport will be important for reinforcing the confidence of governmental partners and the sporting entities on the enlargement of the successful alliance built in these years of hard work."

Leyser added that he believes the atmosphere of "democracy, dialogue, union, responsibility and commitment" he has seen in the sports ministry will serve as a model for Brazilian athletes in the run-up to the Games. That commitment to democracy will serve the final days of the Olympic project well, before the world's athletes come to Rio to compete.

"Brazilian sport has never lived in a time with such big institutional and political growth," Leyser added.

Leyser, a member of the Brazilian Communist Party,has been in the sports ministry since 2003.He was part of preparations for the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio, as well as the 2016 Olympic bid and its organisation.

The move is largely political in Brazil as Rousseff continues to fight off an impeachment challenge from the legislature. The cabinet shake-up comes on the same day that the largest party in the legislature, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), voted for an "immediate exit" from the ruling government coalition. The current vice-president of Brazil, Michael Temer, and the head of the Brazilian lower house, Eduardo Cunha, belong to the PMDB party.

Hilton’s time in the sports ministry seemed numbered after his party, the Brazilian Republican Party, broke from the government ruling coalition on March 17. The next day the party released a statement saying that Hilton would be resigning his position. That same day Hilton released another statement saying he switched parties, joining the Republican Party of Social Order so he could remain in the governing coalition and keep his position.

On March 23 Rousseff’s chief of staff Jaques Wagner told reporters that Hilton would be resigning and sports ministry national secretary Ricardo Leyser would take over as sports minister. Wagner’s message proved correct with Leyser’s official appointment today.

Leyser is now the third sports minister Brazil has had while preparing for the Olympic Games. On March 19,ATRreported that any shift in the sports ministry was unlikely to disrupt the final segment of Olympic preparations, given thepolitical nature of the position.

Homepage photo: Getty

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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