"I have received many awards and was an athlete of the year by CNID, but this one is special, due to its dimension and what it represents, after 40 years, and which is part of my memory and gave another dimension and value to Portuguese sports", reacted Carlos Lopes.

The athlete from Viseu, gold medal in the marathon at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, in 1984, received today from CNID the distinction "international merit", which brought back the memory of August 12th.

"Who had ever seen the Portuguese flag at the Olympic Games? That marked the sport, the will, the awareness and made everyone believe that it is possible to get where I got", he said.

Carlos Lopes also challenged sports and city officials to "open up the existing spaces, the few that there are, so that young people feel free and can do what they like, properly guided".

"The spaces should be better defined and open, because they are often closed. I ran everywhere, I had that freedom, but today it is not like that anymore and young people deserve those spaces", defended the athlete, who ran "crying, with a bitter taste in his mouth and with blood on his feet, but never giving up".

Inês Barros received the distinction of "athlete of the year" in the hunting weapons shooting modality, a sport that "started as a joke, accompanying her father, and that today "is a very serious 'hobby' and, at 22 years old, she is European and world champion.

The first woman to represent Portugal in the modality, told Lusa agency that she felt "nervous" to be with Carlos Lopes and Rosa Mota, from whom she received the award, and she realized that she is also now a reference for the youngest who approach her at the Vale do Tâmega Hunters Association, to which she belongs.

"Our dream, as athletes, is to represent Portugal and bring gold, that is what we work for, but I hope to make our country proud, that is all I want and, even more so, being the first woman in shooting", she wished.

Among the sports awardees, but absent from the ceremony at Solar do Vinho do Dão, in Viseu, were also names such as Francisca Nazaré 'Kika' (I League player), Jorge Jesus (coach abroad) and João Neves (revelation).

Tiago Margarido (II League coach), Viktor Gyökeres (I League player), Ruben Amorim (I League coach), canoeing duo João Ribeiro and Messias Batista (team of the year) and Diogo Ribeiro (athlete of the year), were the other winners, but absent in Viseu.

João Costa (III League player) and Anderson Silva 'Nene' (II League player) were present at the gala, which paid tribute to former athletes and sports leaders from the region such as João Cavaleiro, Carlos Marta, Paulo Sousa, Fernando Seara and José Couceiro.

At the CNID gala, sports journalists were also the center of the ceremony with Ribeiro Cristóvão receiving the Career award, a name that the other honored peers gave as a reference in their professional life.

Luís Rocha spoke on behalf of the ZeroZero project, Octávio Passos (photojournalism) received the Nuno Ferrari award, Fernando Eurico (radio) the Artur Agostinho award, Filipa Pereira (television) the Alves dos Santos award, David Novo (written press) the Neves de Sousa award and the Vitor Santos award (revelation) for Rita Silva Vieira.

Silvino Cardoso received the award from the corresponding journalists and Carlos Bergeron and José Alberto Marques were honored for their life dedicated to sports journalism in the region.

CNID, together with the National Plan for Ethics in Sports (PNED), also distinguished the journalistic works of Vitor Santos, Vilma Reis and Filipa Queiroz, Emanuel Pereira, Sara Dias Oliveira and Maria João Gala, Eduardo Soares and João Carlos Malta and also the work of Simão Freitas, Tomás Guerreiro and Paulo Pimenta.

Leia Também: O momento em que o Sporting levanta a Taça na Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (Portuguese version)