In an interview with the Lusa agency, on the occasion of the 100 days until the start of the Olympic Games, which will be marked on Wednesday, Pedro Roque said that Portugal is "perfectly aligned" with what is foreseen in the contract-program with the Government, which speaks of four podium positions, 15 diplomas (up to eighth place) and 36 positions up to 16th place.

The official recalls that this was the balance of Tokyo2020, "Portugal's best ever results" in the Olympic Games, so the Portuguese Mission is leaving for Paris with "a base that has never been achieved in Portugal".

"What we propose is to, at least, match what was done in Tokyo. Naturally, the signs that were given in Tokyo were very positive, with results that we had not yet had. Having the capacity to maintain these same results will be a great achievement for Portuguese sport [...]. The goals are very challenging, but we are perfectly aligned with these goals, we can and must meet them. If it doesn't happen, it won't be by a very big difference either, that's our prediction," he said.

Even with three of the four medalists in Tokyo2020 having a complicated Olympic cycle -- Pedro Pablo Pichardo, Patrícia Mamona and Jorge Fonseca had physical problems -, the COP maintains the hope of having four medals, even looking at the results of recent years in world championships.

"In 2023, we had three podium positions, they were all gold. And this was the first time that this happened in Portugal, in world championships, three first place podium positions. In 2022, we obtained five. In 2021, at the Olympic Games, there were four. 2020 does not count, because it was a year of pandemic, in 2019 we obtained six, which was our record. [...] Which means that, if we do the average, we are aiming for about four medals," he said.

Emphasizing that these results are "an indicator of quality" of the Portuguese team, Pedro Roque assumes that there is still a lot of work to be done, since Portugal, with an average of 1.12 medals per Games, is far from the European average (nine) and even from countries of similar size (7.5).

"Which means that our best representation was close to half of those countries between five and 12 million inhabitants and was below half of the average of the European Union. [...] We will not be able to reach the EU average, very predictably, in Paris. But we have to aim for other editions of the Olympic Games, because if we want convergence in so many areas of our society, also in sports, particularly in high performance and Olympic participation, we believe that we should have this goal and this objective," he stressed.

100 days before the Olympic Games, Portugal has 40 athletes with guaranteed quotas, 16 less than on the same 'date' in Tokyo2020 (held in 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic), a value influenced by the fact that handball failed the second consecutive qualification -- there would be 14 handball players --, although Pedro Roque does not consider it a failure.

"If five years ago we thought it was possible for handball to be in the decision game of going to the Olympic Games on two occasions and in one of them to have succeeded and in the other not to have succeeded, even more so at the opponent's home, certainly few would believe that this scenario was possible. What is a fact is that handball has proven to be a sustainable project, a project with a future," he said.

Pointing to some renewal in the team, Pedro Roque believes that the number of Portuguese athletes could be between 70 and 80, with the qualification for 63 to 67 medal events -- 66 were contracted with the Government.

"If we take into account that the quota for the Paris Games was reduced by 8% compared to what happened in Tokyo, let's say that, in general, countries will have fewer athletes. If we manage to maintain the number here or get very close to the number of athletes in individual events in Paris, we will leave with a very, very similar number and that will be an achievement right away," he said.

Pedro Roque also believes that there may even be more women than Portuguese men in the French capital, between July 26 and August 11, in Games that point to parity, recalling that in Tokyo2020 women were already around 46% of the Mission and 54% men, in a number inflated by the men's handball team.

Asked about the possibility of some sports, 'escaping' from the more traditional ones (athletics, judo and canoeing), surprising and winning medals, Pedro Roque said he believes so, highlighting, among others, the names of cyclist Iúri Leitão, world omnium champion, and skater Gustavo Ribeiro.

"Honestly, we don't know what's going to happen in Paris, but recent years have shown that we have more sports prepared to be able to discuss prominent places in the Olympic Games, [...] and that there are more young athletes dreaming and, more than dreaming, putting this as an objective and not being afraid to go after that same objective. And our country, in this aspect, in terms of sports, what is felt is that there is a prepared generation with a distinct mentality, with a mentality of not being afraid to reach the first places, not being afraid to be with the best, not being afraid to be one of the best," he said.