The former basketball player and president of the Angolan Olympic Committee (COA), Gustavo da Conceição, has announced that he will not seek re-election after five terms at the helm of the country's sports. 

According to the former captain of the Angolan basketball team and five-time African champion, he has come to the conclusion that it is the right time to step aside and allow other members of the COA to participate and demonstrate their abilities in the management of Olympic sports. New people, new ideas seems to be his motto starting from 2024, when his renewed term of office ends in 2021.

The 66-year-old sociologist explained: "I have been in the Olympic Committee for a long time, and I believe that at this moment, the institution already has a group of people, individuals, and leaders with different experiences. Therefore, there will be no leadership problems." 

The former national team player, who won two silver and one bronze medal at the African Nations Championship, as well as gold in 1987, will leave his post after two long decades, claiming: "My job is done and I am looking forward to new challenges, not ruling out the possibility of running for president of 1º de Agosto, the club where I founded the basketball team. It is my favourite club and I can help restore its mystique and greatness," he stressed.

In this way, Angola loses an important figure in its history, while at the same time opening up opportunities for the new generations. It is worth noting that Da Conceição was also the head of the Association of Portuguese-speaking Olympic Committees and a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the World Association of Olympic Committees. 

He was also the technical director of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) from 2000 to 2004, the head of the Angolan Basketball Federation (FAB) from 2005 to 2012 and a member of the FIBA Competition Committee from 2005 to 2012. 

It is worth remembering that in its almost 45 years of existence (founded on 17 February, 1979), the FAB has only had four presidents: Augusto Teixeira (1979/1980), Germano Araújo (1981/1992), Rogério Silva (1993/2004), and the current outgoing president, the sociologist Gustavo da Conceição.