High Standards of Team Brazil's Training Center Draws Athletes From Around the World

Attracted both by the high quality and modern facilities offered by COB and Rio’s climate, Americans, British, Russians, Italians and even an Ukrainian athlete have trained at Team Brazil’s facilities

Managed by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) since 2008, the Team Brazil Training Center, every day, brings together leading brazilian olympic athletes from athletics, karate, artistic gymnastics, judo, open water marathon, swimming, artistic swimming, trampoline, sailing, volleyball, beach volleyball and many other sports. But in February of 2019, a specific set of data call attention: the number of athletes from abroad that have been using the TC facilities at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Park, in Rio de Janeiro. Since the beginning of the year athletes and coaches from different countries have been training at this venue that offers a state-of-the-art structure for elite sport athletes’ training.

The last group to train at the TC were the Austin Spurs athletes, a team affiliated to the San Antonio Spurs and that plays in the G-League, the NBA development league. In its roster the American team has athletes who played for the world’s leading basketball league, like Josh Huestis and DeJuan Blair, NBA champion playing for the San Antonio Spurs and who made the best of the Strength and Fitness Room to prepare for the International Cup.

On Monday, the 11th, the coordinator of Russia’s national artistic swimming team, who trained at the TC from January 28 to February 12, gave a lecture to several Brazilian athletes and coaches from youth to adult categories and representatives of various clubs. The presentation by Tatiana Pokrovskaya attracted a large audience and the number of questions evidenced the interest Brazilians have in the methods of the five-times Olympic champion presenter.

"Our collaboration with Brazil started a long time ago, in 1995, to be precise, when I assisted in the preparation for the Atlanta Games. Adult category coach Roberta Perilier was one of my athletes while training in Brazil. We love training here because the pool is spectacular, wonderful. Despite the heat you can work in the shade. As we train year round in the indoor pool because it is so cold, we wanted to give the girls a chance to train at this outdoor pool, in Rio de Janeiro", recalled Tatiana, who is preparing a new choreography and rehearsing new movements for the World Championships and the Tokyo Games 2020. "I do not like to generate expectations, you always need to go into the pool like into a war: to win".

Last Monday you still could find three Italian and an Ukrainian athlete at TC’s strength and fitness room. Coach Roberto Odaldi and swimmers Marco Orsi, Sara Alesci and Andriy Govorov spent the morning in physical training using TC equipment. Their trip was arranged by coach Arílson Silva, who despite being Brazilian can be considered a foreigner, once he is currently training 50m butterfly swimming world record holder Andriy Govorov. Arílson is a long time visitor at the Maria Lenk and is often seen there since 2011, when he coached the final preparation of Bruno Fratus for the London Games.

"There are three reasons why we come to train in Brazil. First, because Arilson is a champion coach and it is a pleasure to be in contact with different styles and people. Second, it’s good for Marco because, right now, Govorov, is the fastest in the world and this is a significant challenge to him. And third, it’s winter now in Italy. The Maria Lenk Aquatic Park is a beautiful venue, perfect for training and, I can imagine, it is perfect also for competitions. People made me feel at home here", Ronaldo says.

Other athletes from abroad who made the best of the structure available at Team Brazil’s TC were the members of Great Britain national diving team, who stayed in Rio de Janeiro from January 03 to 15. Some of the leading stars of British sport, as for example, Rio 2016 Games medalists, Jack Laugher (gold and silver), Tom Daley (bronze, with the same result achieved at the London Games 2012) and Daniel Goodfellow (bronze medalist) trained at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Park.

"The key factor that brought us here is the fantastic facilities for diving training. I am aware that in Rio there are other pools for diving, but this is the best of all, it fully meets all the requirements. I wish to establish a good relationship with Brazilians, and I’m planning to come back many times to train", said coach Alexei Evangulov, who also delivered a presentation to the Brazilian coaches of this sport.

Besides the swimming and diving pools, Team Brazil’s TC has a Combat Sport, Strength and Fitness, Rest and Evaluation rooms, an Olympic laboratory and the Artistic Gymnastics Training Center.

"It is a highly effective structure because we have access to all facilities. To the leading athletes it is really important to have the laboratory, the elite performance and the excellent pool just a few steps away.... I’m really loving it ", said world record holder Govorov, who has been training at the Maria Lenk since January 28.

The remarkable flow of athletes from abroad evidence that the Time Brazil Training Center actually belongs to the whole world. This exchange only benefits Brazilian sport, summarized Luisa Borges, artistic swimming athlete. "It is a privilege to arrive for training and find them (the Russians) here. Our eyes shine and with think, we want to be like them".

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