Sports for Peace in São Paulo
an article by Lia Diskin and David Adams

Over 60,000 citizens of São Paulo are participating in the fifth annual City Games under the banner of the culture of peace.

This is the latest step of popularizing the culture of peace in São Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world, and long concerned about urban violence. Readers of CPNN will recall articles about previous steps in this process including Culture of Peace for Public Policies - 1st Cycle of Conferences in São Paulo and Culture of Peace Advances in Brazil.

Competitions for the 2007 games in São Paulo began at the local level in June and by July over 1,100 games had been played in the 31 sub-prefectures. On September 22-23 there will be a final city-wide sports festival in which each regional champion team will compete for the title of city champion in the sports of field football, indoor football, volleyball, handball and basketball.

The Games follow the specific recommendations of UNESCO (the UN agency for education) to use sports for world peace and for the education process in all cities of the world. While the normal rules of competitions are respected, unsportsmanlike conduct is not allowed, according to the Supervisor of Sports from the Itaim sub-prefecture, Epedito Marine Sales.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Proceeds from registration fees are used to provide foodbaskets distributed to people registered in the city's food bank, and as of July this has made possible 1861 baskets, totaling 35 tons of food

In addition to team competitions in the sports listed above, beginning in August there will be festivals in five other sports: bocha (bocce), capoeira, gateball, truco and chess. This ensures that the elderly can take part as well as young athletes. This fits with the principal objective of the Games which is to increase participation by all citizens in sports rather than just being spectators.

An article about the games may be found on the Newsboard of the website for the Decade for a Culture of Peace.

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[Editor's note.  The following article was sent in to CPNN by Ron Davis, Assistant Coach Cross Country / Track and Field
The Ohio State University. ]

'Lost Boy of Sudan' still running at Northern Arizona
By Bob Baum, AP Sports Writer

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Lopez Lomong was 6 years old when, in the dark of night, he and three older boys crawled through a small hole in a fence and ran barefoot for three days to escape their Sudanese rebel captors.

Sixteen years later, in the pines of Flagstaff with a comfortable life he never imagined, he is running still. . .

Next week, Lomong, a sophomore at Northern Arizona University, will be among the favorites in the 1,500 meters at the NCAA track and field championships in Sacramento, Calif.

"I have to picture myself when I was six years old, running from the death I saw.. . ...more.

This report was posted on August 17, 2007. The moderator is CPNN Administrator.

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