“Ibirapuera, the broken dream”: the Gymnasium, the Velodrome, and the failure of the sports calendar at the IV Centenary of the city of São Paulo’ celebrations (1954)

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the history of the sports calendar, organized as part of the festivities of the IV Centenary of the city of São Paulo, and the difficulties and mistakes that hampered the construction and inauguration of the Ibirapuera’ Gymnasium and Velodrome, central buildings within the celebration plan. Scarcely studied, this program of activities crystallized a phase of internationalization of sports in São Paulo and required the construction of a series of sports buildings for the city, which would serve as venues for international sport tournaments of diver modalities throughout 1954. The article discusses the interests of various agents from the sports industry and sports associations in São Paulo in promoting the construction of the buildings that would hold the tournaments and the difficulties that the IV Centenary Organization Commission faced, alongside the public power, to fulfill the commitments of building the sports facilities and organizing the tournaments. Paying attention to problems of financing and management of the construction phases, the article explains why the sports festivities commemorating the 400th anniversary of the city would end up being a failure. The work provides new readings for the analysis of the general framework of the celebrations held in 1954, and seeks to contribute to the knowledge of the histories of São Paulo’s sporting heritage, the public investments in the city, and the right to leisure in Brazil.