Building Up in Swimming Science

Biography

Professor João Paulo Vilas-Boas is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, a member of the Steering Group Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming of the World Commission of Science in Sport, and a member of the board of the Portuguese Olympic Committee, a former Olympic Swimming Coach and he is the director of the Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Synopsis

The BMS movement emerged from the Steering Group Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming of the World Commission of Sciences and Sports (International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education – ICSSPE – UNESCO), aiming to promote the production, spreading and recognition of science within the sports community, particularly in swimming. Over the last 30 years, the University of Porto, Portugal, has been fighting for this goal, despite initiating and evolving this purpose in a particularly adverse context, as follows: (i) a small peripheral country; (ii) little expression of the swimming sport; (iii) far from leading other sport sciences on a global scale; (iv) low confidence on scientific and theoretical ‘external’ contributions to the field of swimming practice, and (v) limited budget and staff. Sport and science ‘entrepreneurs’, like León Lewillie (and also Jean-Peter Clarys), and the BMS family, catalyse that fight over time, through their example and the opportunity and motivations they have made possible. Nowadays, the University of Porto, the Faculty of Sport, the Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, and especially the Swimming Science Portuguese family, may be proud of a raised building. This text explores the story behind this ‘locally based struggle for the BMS spirit’, concluding that projects like this one are feasible, and may also be a word of motivation for the sake of their proliferation throughout the world.