At COB Olympic Laboratory Time Brasil's Athletes are Getting Ready for the upcoming season

Science and technology are critical tools to support coaches’ planning for qualification for a spot at Tokyo 2020

COB Olympic Laboratory is working at full steam. As this Pre-Olympic season starts Time Brazil Training Center, at the Maria Lenk Olympic Park, has been welcoming athletes from different sports and providing critical information to coaches’ planning. On Thursday, February 21, for example, while beach volleyball world champions Agatha and Duda had blood samples collected at the biochemistry lab, Henrique Avanciny, second place in the world mountain bike cycling ranking had an appointment with Time Brasil’s psychologist. On his turn, sprinter Aldemir Gomes was going through biomechanical tests. Headed by world champion Etiene Medeiros, the swimming team of Sesi, the São Paulo club, was also making the most of the state-of-the art structure offered by COB to Brazilian Olympic athletes. Just in 2019 the needs of 78 athletes of Time Brasil have already been taken care of at the venue by COB professionals.

The athletes liked the use of technology and science to further their sport development and praised the high level structure offered by COB. "I’ve already visited many training centers all over the world and today I’m proud of what we have here at home. You feel appreciated when you come here and find all this physical and human resources. All this makes you feel motivated and fully supported to work. This is critical to our elite sport development", says Henrique Avancini, who won the Fan’s Choice award at the last Brazil Olympic Awards Ceremony, and has already made use of the services of the medical, biochemical and physiology departments of the venue. "The use of science in my preparation was highly beneficial both on and out of the tracks", added the 30 years old cyclist, the best ranking Brazilian in the history of this sport.

Besides the tests in the laboratory, the COB sport science specialists also promote offsite actions. In 2018, 393 evaluations of this type were carried out. In 2019, for canoe sprint, in Lagoa Santa (MG). Athletics will come next. Between March 9 and 16, 27 athletics athletes will be tested at the Brazilian Athletics Confederation National Development Center.

Duda Lisboa’s beach volleyball is another sport tracked in the field of play. Duda, who is looking forward to her first participation in the Olympic Games says there is no question that she has evolved and seen the practical results in her performance. "To me this is an amazing experience. Results are excellent. I’m doing today what I will be needing tomorrow. They always give us feedback. They tell you how you are doing, what you need to add to your diet, what needs improvement in your blood tests. They take a full look at you, from your hair to the tip of your toes. And this is very important to our technical commission", she says.

One of the legacies of the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the COB Olympic Laboratory has been in full operation since 2017. Last year 2256 evaluation actions were offered to 325 athletes from 16 different confederations. COB’s goal is that when the time comes for Tokyo 2020, services will have been provided to all the Brazilian Olympic Confederations.

COB Olympic Laboratory comprises seven areas of expertise: physiology, biochemistry/nutrition, physical fitness, medicine, physiotherapy, biomechanics and psychological preparation. Its distinctive feature is to have available several specialties inside the same physical space. This makes the exchange of information and the logistics of the evaluations much easier .

The Olympic Laboratory is used as a tool to support coaches’ planning process. Preparing for a year or large competitions, like the Word Championships and the Pan American Games, Rio’s 200m specialist Aldemir Gomes, is yet another athlete who is convinced that science is critical to improved performance. "The best you can control your performance and your body, the easier it is to work along the year. As this will be a year of hard work, with major events, we need to be in control of our physical fitness and how much it can last until the end of the season. So, more controls and more tests help us to get this awareness of what we can endure. Performance is to fight on the tracks with science behind it", added the 200m champion of the last Brazil Athletics Trophy.

Besides the Olympic Laboratory, the Time Brazil Training Center has swimming and diving pools, Combat Sports, Strength and Fitness, Rest and Evaluation Rooms and the Artistic Gymnastics Training Center.

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