ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the involvement of the military in Brazilian sport, with special attention to key moments when this was more significant. It is important to notice that these interventions were often controversial, as the participation of the Armed forces in national politics usually is. In the nineteenth century, the involvement of members of the Armed Forces was occasional and not systematic. The 1930s saw a greater separation between military and civilian sports. In 1964, another military intervention in Brazilian politics removed an elected Brazilian president from office. In the twentieth century, however, it is possible to notice the mobilization of sport in nationalist discourses, the idea that sporting success would represent the success and development of the country, and the belief in the power of sport in uniting everyone around national symbols. The idea of Brazil as a sporting nation was being paved and would be solidified in the beginning of the twenty-first century.
