The BMS movement emerged from the Steering Group Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming of the World Commission on Science and Sport (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: • a small peripheral country • little expression of the swimming sport • far from leading other sport sciences on a global scale • low confidence on scientific and theoretical `external` contributions to the field of swimming practice • limited budget and staff. Sport and science `entrepreneurs`, like Leon 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.
© Copyright 2014 XIIth International Symposium for Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming. Published by Australian Institute of Sport. All rights reserved.