Lisbon mourns the death of José Manuel Constantino

In November of last year, the Lisbon City Council awarded José Manuel Constantino the municipal medal of sporting merit, as a tribute to the president of the COP, "who has become, in his own right, the spokesperson for the cause of sport in Portugal".

José Manuel Constantino graduated in Physical Education from the Instituto Superior de Educação Física.

He was a lecturer at the Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies, the Faculty of Sports Sciences and Physical Education at the University of Porto, the Autonomous University of Lisbon and the Maia Higher Institute, where he was a guest lecturer on the Sports Managers course and the Local Authorities and Sport - Success Strategies course, respectively.

Always closely linked to sport, his career has also been in public administration, where he has held various positions, including 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.

In the field of writing, he was the author of more than a dozen books, co-author of several works and editorial coordinator of various publications, and a founding member of Revista Horizonte.

Of the various awards he has received, the following stand out: the Gold Medal of Merit from the Oeiras City Council in 1996; the Excellence in Management Award from the Faculty of Human Motricity in 2011, and the gold medal from the city of Rio Maior in 2016.

In January of that same year, the President of the Republic, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, awarded him the Commander of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator for his dedication to sport and defense of the Olympic movement.