The Brazilians came away from the 2014 Short Course World Championships with seven gold, one silver and two bronze, which put them on top of the medal standings.
Legendary Australian coach Bill Sweetenham is in Brazil for a conference in Sao Paulo where he will be a guest lecturer.
While he was interviewed before the upcoming conference he was asked what are somethings that standout to him in Brazilian swimming. The first was a positive where he pointed out that they have incredible speed in the men’s events.
He also felt that the country is putting too much emphasis on their performances in the short course pool. At the Pan Pacific Championships the Brazilians only collected one gold, two silver and one bronze.
In short Sweetenham made it very clear that he feels that performing in the short course pool has nothing to do with being able to win at the Olympics.
To improve he also feels that the swimmers in Brazil need to have more resilience. To be able to teach that they needed to be tested in an event that has heats, semi-finals and finals in more than 10 times a year. By doing this the athletes will develop character traits such as focus on a regular basis in a racing experience.
Another one of the things that is holding Brazil back is that their domestic calendar does not link well to the international shcedule.
Is this a passive aggressive way of saying he is not a fan of Brazil’s top swimmers training and going to college in the US?