Games Makers / Organising Committee

“The greatest tangible legacy of the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games will be in transport”. Regina Oliveira summarizes with this sentence her responsibility and her work ahead of one of the most complex operations of the biggest sporting event in the planet. Director of Transport and also responsible for the City Operations Area, she will have the mission of guaranteeing the mobility of thousands of people, including the Olympic family, athletes, support team, media and authorities.

By land, sea and air, with cars, buses, motorcycles, motorboats and bicycles, she will count on the support of the tree levels of government and the concessionaires in harbours, airports, highways, railroads in order to, in her own words, “operate an Olympic city within a regular city”.

Since 2010, she commands a team that, in addition to plan the operation of the Games, has the mission of monitoring the compliance of the governmental commitments regarding transport issues made during the bid. In order to accomplish this mission, the experience of 25 years in this sector, always working in Rio de Janeiro, is of great value.

“The opportunity was very attractive. I am a dreamer and this characteristic has motivated me to work in the Organising Committee. I want to change and improve the city, as well as the quality of life of the population. During the last 25 years, I could get to know Rio as it is, I could go to distant regions, during the day and during the night, so I could see how people live”, said the Director. For eight years, she worked in management positions in SuperVia, the passenger Trains Company concessionaire that operates in the metropolitan region of Rio. She has also worked for five years in Metrô (Subway Company).

Working by regions

Still in the conceptual phase, the planning developed by the Rio 2016™ Department of Transport is divided by regions. Each one of them (Barra, Deodoro, Copacabana and Maracanã) is led by one Manager, who works in constant interaction with Venues and Security areas.

The numbers of the operation will be reviewed after London 2012 and they are subjected to modification in the next few years, but the order of magnitude is already impressive. We estimate the workforce to be of 15 thousand people under the leadership of the Transport Area and City Operations, among them volunteers, third-parts and employees. Although the Olympic competitions are held during 17 days and the Paralympic competitions are held during 11 days, the impact on the city is of 60 days.

We don’t have a consolidated calculation in terms of quantity of fuel to be used, but it is a priority to organise sustainable Games in environmental terms.

“In Transport, especially regarding our fleet, we have the opportunity of making the Games as “green” as possible, considering the Brazilian matrix of clean energy, using biodiesel and alcohol”, says Regina. “Furthermore, the bid commitment includes the buses adapted to people with disabilities and clean fuel. The City Hall is doing its best efforts in this direction”.

City transformation

According to the 2010 Census, the city of Rio de Janeiro has more than 6,3 million inhabitants and almost 12 million people lives in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region. Regarding Transport, the municipalities around are important due to the workforce and the audience, that will move every day from there to the Olympic city. This way, the rationalisation of the quantity of vehicles in transit is one of the main objectives, both for big events and for the legacy.

“You can manage to rationalise the use of the cars during the events, given the fact that Rio is still a city where people use public transportation quite a lot. The percentage in Rio is 70% of public transportation and 30% of private transportation. In São Paulo, for instance, it is 51% of private transportation and 49% of public transportation. Due to the expansion of credit during the last years, the number of cars has increased. The habits have also changed. We ended up following the North American model of city regarding usage of cars”, says the Director.

“In the next four years, with the interventions in course, we will be talking about an increase from 13% to 46% of passengers that use mass transportation in Rio de Janeiro. The regular bus and the LRT are not considered as mass transportation. We are mainly talking about the BRT, about the recovered train and subways with more wagons, therefore reducing the length of time. It will be an integrated network. The public transportation of good quality will motivate people to leave the car at home. Due to this transformation, the most tangible legacy of the Games will be the transport”, concludes Regina.

In the next few months, a technician of the Transport Department will move to London, where he will be working full time in the local Organising Committee. Then, he will bring his experience and knowledge back to Rio 2016™. In the meantime, the working groups of the Organising Committee together with the city, state and federal governments will keep periodic meetings. The operation of an Olympic City inside a city is a work in several fronts. Intense. And meant for dreamers.

A different laugh cut the silence of a tense day in the headquarters of the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee. With an air of surprise and curiosity, all eyes look at an average height figure in metal glasses, a dress shirt and an enlightened face, typical of those who are at the first day in a new job. Two or three persons welcome him, and the first jokes come naturally. Laugh and make other laugh is a house specialty. Erick Brito was already part of it.

The 42 years old accounting analyst from São Paulo has a good sense of humour. With a résumé filled with multinational companies, he is living many changes. It is the first time he works outside his hometown and the first time he is living by himself. He can go walking to Recreio Beach, close to the Committee headquarters. On July 2011, he was one of the first professional with disability to complete the Rio 2016™ staff.

“I have motor and speaking disabilities. I type and write with a delay of 30% to 40%, for example. Threading the needle thread, then, is a real nightmare (giggles)! Some people lose their patience, but I know how to deal with it. I am cool with it. I am here for those who wants to listen me. I am ok with it”, he comments.

The accounting degree at a first class university of São Paulo was the beginning of a strong career. His professional experience made him responsible for some key tasks at the Finance Department. At the Rio 2016™Committee, his team role is to control the entries and consolidate the data.

The barriers along the way just increase the meaning of his achievement: “Despite all the know-how, the bachelor degree and the professional background, despite all of that, people still offer some resistance. We cannot sugar-coat things, can we?”.

Active recruitment policy for people with disabilities

The human resources department is implementing an active recruitment policy for people with disabilities. Once they are identified, they have their profile analysed and are indicated to the functional areas according to their needs and availability. Harmonious diversity and respect for the differences are two of the greatest values in the organisation.

Opportunity is the key-word to people like Erick, who has great ambitions. Adapted to his new life, he pursues the goals which have always guided his way. Symbol of the Committee essence, he celebrates the present with the optimism of those who build their own future.

“If my speaking disability let me, if I find a way, I would like to be appointed as a coordinator, a manager. I know I am capable of it. I also know my limitations. For instance, the act of speaking would be a problem in a potential leader position, in which I would have to attend meeting where this is one of the main working tools. Even knowing that, today, time is money”, he says.

“I have to find people who are willing of slowing down a bit and letting me finish my consideration. The important thing here is that they know they will not hear any foolish from me.”

To achieve the goal of delivering secure Olympic and Paralympic Games, it is necessary an integrated action plan, performed by the three levels of government (city, state and federal). They have to be in constant dialogue with the Organising Committee and the international agencies. In order to lead this process, there is no one more prepared than Luiz Fernando Corrêa, former National Secretary for Public Security, former Federal Police CEO and current Rio 2016™ Security Director.

At 53 years old, the gaucho from Santa Maria has three decades of services provided to Brazil. In 1980, he was about to complete his graduation in Physical Education. At that moment, a Federal Police agent public competition made Brazil loose a potential Volleyball star. Nevertheless, it was starting the career of one of the most qualified public security figures in the country. He has been a drug enforcement agent for 14 years. In 1995, he was named federal delegate, after finishing the Law School. Then, the opportunities have appeared. He ended up invited to higher positions of the security sector.

“In Federal Police, my goal was to be a good cop. Being a delegate was a common dream for those in the career, and I was going after that. Once I became a delegate, I started being appointed to other positions, and I have always worked with an excellent team of professionals. The Secretary Beltrame (current Rio de Janeiro State Security Secretary) is part of this group. We have matured together. Afterwards, the things that have happened were a consequence of that. Being a National Secretary was never an ambition of mine, being a Federal Police CEO neither, because this is a universe occupied by one person. It cannot be anybody’s goal”, he says.

“When I became a National Secretary, in 2003, I was appointed by the Justice Minister, Marcio Thomaz Bastos, due to my work as a federal police officer. I was a new officer, essentially an operational police officer, and after a little while I was a public policy administrator. I have spent three years and a half there. I have grown as an administrator and, in 2007, the Pan-American Games finished. At that time, we were able to apply our concepts, and everything went well. Then, the government decided to put me in charge of the Federal Police”, completes Luiz Fernando, with master degree in public security administration from Fundação Getúlio Vargas and one of the creators of the Public Security National Force, a cooperation programme developed in 2004 to connect police forces.

Security sensation

The concept of police integration and the first experiences with community police in the slums were tested in the Rio 2007 Pan- American Games. The good results and excellent administration of these initiatives have accredited Brazil to major pretensions. The security project of Rio’s Olympic bid received more positive evaluations than the European and North-American projects.

Our ability was proved. Then, it was time to get down to work. Not fully developed yet, the Rio 2016™ Security Directorate will be divided into five management areas: Operations, Institutional Relations, Intelligence, International Relations and Planning, Projects and Logistic. The dialogue with the security provider, the State, is constant. The Organising Committee is a facilitator and responsible for the operation only within the Games competition and non-competition venues. “The greatest Brazilian commitment is to deliver secure Games in a broad sense. The security concept is a little wider than police activity. We are talking about security, strict meaning, civil defense and contingency plans, because we have to picture parallel scenarios for the Games. Most of our people will be focused on the event, but the citizens cannot be forgotten.”

“We have not only to be able to provide security. We have to be able to provide security with discretion and make people feel safe. It is a set of variables that comprise the host city ambience, for instance, something that already exists. In Rio, today, there is a better security sensation. Based on delegation, venue and important people course risk report, the measures will be taken. That is the objective part, but it goes beyond that. One of the items is to communicate, to show. You are showing when you previously communicate the State ability and the rigour of your plan.”

Commitment with the country’s image

In the current planning phase, previous experience in Olympic Games generates valuable information. By the end of every edition, the host cities make a debriefing, in other words, they produce a report that describes the good results and mistakes made in the preparation of the Games. On the other hand, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gathers all reports, positive and negative, generating knowledge to the next editions. Five years to the Games, it is time for Rio 2016™ to collect information.

Combined with this know-how, exchanging data with international organisms and agencies is vital. Plus the police and multilateral security entities, such as Interpol, the National Olympic Committees maintain a close relation and constant contact with the Organising Committee regarding its internal demands.

“Brazil has a great ability of inserting itself internationally in the intelligence networks. The risk report is vital. Our role is to plan a security scheme that avoids incidents. If they happen, our plan has to comprise a prompt response. But knowledge is more important than an alert security scheme,” believes Luiz Fernando.

More than assuring fearless Games, the Security Directorate has a commitment with the country’s image. Even in an Olympic environment, enjoyable and relaxed by its nature, having the eyes of the world focused on Rio is challenging. Luiz Fernando Corrêa works in team, side by side a public apparatus that someday was run by him. His large experience plays in his favour, as well as it does the Carioca celebration spirit. Playing for peace, the hosts couldn’t be any better.

Triathlon is a three in one sport, but the heart of the athletes doesn’t have a separation. Swimming, riding and running without rest requires multiplication. In the Olympic Games, about two hours of lungs, legs and arms spinning, trying to control butterflies in the stomach. In Ironman, the most traditional competition of the sport, cool mind and hot heart are vital to more than ten hours focusing a goal. To Bernardo Alvarenga, Rio 2016 Organising Committee Monitoring and Control Analyst, it was a childhood dream, engraved by a way of sums and subtractions.

“My father was a paddler, and I was always close to sport. I started practicing Swimming, I started to win, I got to the Junior Brazilian Team, I was Brazilian champion in the 400m freestyle and I have swum till I was 20 years old. Then, it was time to university. I had to make an option, I couldn’t juggle, I wasn’t doing anything well. I have stopped in 2000 and, today, I don’t regret. But, that time, I saw my friends going to the Olympic Games, and I asked myself: ‘is it possible for me to go to 2004?’. It was a huge frustration”, recalls the manufacturing engineer, with MBA in marketing and project management in France, who integrates the Rio 2016 Committee Planning and Control Department.

Without ever stop practicing sports, the idea of facing 3,800 metres of Swimming, 180km of Cycling and 42km of running in the mythic Ironman – worldwide competition originated in Hawaii (USA), in 1978 – has been inside his head for ten years. In 2010, during a conversation with friends, the decision was made. Six months later, they would be in Florianópolis, ready to face the hardest physical and metal challenge of their lives.

The preparation

The training prepared by the coach Alexandre Ribeiro, four-times world champion of the Ultraman (competition of 10km of Swimming, 421km of Cycling and 84,4km of running in three days) gave the command. Discipline was determining. From November 2010 to May 2011, there were daily activities in the gym, in the road and in the beach. In the scale, it was eight kilograms by the end of the preparation, even with six meals per day accompanied by a nutritionist.

“I used to wake up at 5h30 in the morning during the week, I used to train in the morning and in the night, before and after the work. On Saturday, I used to wake up at 4h30 and it was three, four hours riding the bicycle on the road, climb up the hill. On Sunday, it was more 30 and 35km of running. You get addicted to the training”, he says. “It is a mental competition. The training is even more about keeping the mental balance. It is extremely lonely. If you are not completely imbued with that, you don’t do it, you don’t wake up, you don’t train with sun or rain. I was lucky to have friends by my side and the coach Ribeiro and his team giving all the support”, he comments.

“I was told that training was harder than competing. I agree! Though you get exhausted after the competition, during the trainings you have to deal with other daily activities and be a multiplier of time. In addition, you have to keep high your level of motivation. This you can only get when you do what you love”, he concludes.

The competition

On 29 May, after 11h50, Alvarenga reaped the rewards. The words of the engineer-athlete in a description send to his family, friends and supporter after the competition summarize the sensations.

“We woke up at 4h30. Actually, I woke up at that time, because I couldn’t sleep! The sensation, moments before the start is a mixture of accomplishment due to the hard training, anxiety to the start of the competition, nervousness because of the best starting strategy and adrenaline, lots of adrenaline! Right before the start, the sun rises. This adrenaline reached its higher point when it lasts five minutes to the start. I started calm, feeling well. When we finished the first lap and we passed by the sand, it was really exciting to hear people sheering and some friends shouting my name. I came back to the water and continued with the peloton, finishing the Swimming course in 49 minutes. We started riding in a calm pace, according to the coach recommendations. It was very nice to meet my parents in the end of the first lap and in the beginning of the second. My mother was extremely excited, of course! She was about to ask me to stop and take a picture! We finished the course in 5h40, a real good time to us.”

I have never done a marathon, actually I have never done a competition of 5km in the street, despite the running trainings of more than 21km. But what bothers you, and you have to be aware of that, is that you start running after 7 hours of exercises. Being calm and having mental balance to face the marathon is crucial. The first 3km seem not end, and that is challenging when you think: ‘It takes more 39km!’. It was in the first lap of the marathon that I’ve received the most contagious energy source I’ve received in my life. A boy with disability in a wheelchair shouted my name in Canasvieiras and, when I waved to him, I could clearly see in his face that he wanted to be there, running. It was fantastic!

Despite everything, my muscles were in a good condition, without any cramp. The problem was my left knee, that started aching in the 5km. Then, the problems have started… The right knee started aching too, once I tried to compensate the weight in the right leg. But what can you do? Now, there were just 10km left. I had a good and a bad news. The good was that my knee has stopped aching, and the bad was that the pain has stopped because, below the knee, all ached, from the shin to the toes! Regarding muscles and breath, I was ok, what was funny. My thighs and calves were intact, but the rest was bad, in addition to the 12 degrees of cold weather. When there are only 100 metres to the end, a corridor full of people appears around you, encouraging you and screaming your name, what brings you to tears, and you forget even the aches (for some 0,002255 seconds). After passing through the finish line, the speaker says your name and thousands of people cheer with your arrival. The sensation is simply unspeakable.

Back to reality

Moments after crossing the finish line, the problem turns out to be how you deal with the emptiness. Months of preparation and expectation end in a breath. “I was sad when it all ended. The competition happened on Sunday. On Monday, I came back to Rio. On Tuesday, I went to work and, when I came back home, I started crying”, he recalls.

Time for new challenges. “Within the Committee, we have to, basically, be the annoying guys [giggles]. All that was planned to the functional areas, we have to monitor, so that we can see that things are being delivered. Today, we are still implementing tolls to this kind of follow up, because we will get to 62 areas and the task is extremely complex. We are also involved in periodical follow up meetings of the project with IOC and our task is to be side by side the areas in the presentations. After Ironman, there is Ultraman to face within the Committee till 2016”, he plays.

Recently, Bernardo Alvarenga was elected as one of the directors of the group that encourages the sportive practice of the Rio 2016 collaborators. The goal is to convince at least one colleague to train and compete beside him in Ironman 2013. In the heart of the triathlete, more than in the engineer’s, planning is vital. Working, running, swimming and riding without rest requires multiplication.

Time. What is measured in minutes, hours, days, years, that encompasses, for mankind, the notions of present, past and future. Moment or appropriate occasion in which something happens. Era. Period. In the dictionary, twelve definitions and infinite combinations. Untouchable. Intangible. For Ricardo Pradro, time is relative.
 
Olympic athlete with 15 years old, champion and world record holder with 17, silver medalist in Los Angeles 1984 with 19 and retired from the pools with 23, it did not take long for him to become a legend of the Brazilian sport. With 5' 6.5", he became gigantic because of his technique under water. He dominated the four styles and was on the top of the most complete event of Swimming, the 400m medley.
 
“If you want to be a good swimmer, you have, first, to be a good athlete. Being a good athlete is to know the basis of all sports, to be a good runner, for instance. It is to be a good athlete in general, and a better swimmer. Nowadays, when people are specialists, this is not so important, particularly sprinters. Today, you see athletes racing in just one event. But, in my opinion, in the opinion of a guy from another era, I think the good thing is when the guy knows how to swim the four styles, when he has a solid base of resistance, when he has trained high mileages when young, and then specializes in his twenties."
 
Check out the photo gallery of Ricardo Prado's career
 
A watershed
 
“From another era”, Ricardo popularised the Brazilian swimming in the 80’s. There were twenty years without any Olympic medal, since the bronze of Manuel dos Santos in Rome 1960. Since then, eight editions of the Games and podium in six of them.
 
He is considered the most complete swimmer of the countrie’s history and a watershed of a way that culminated with the gold medal of Cesar Cielo in Beijing 2008, the first of a Brazilian on the sport.
 
“The structure of the sport improves while people practice the sport and open the way. Manuel dos Santos has opened the way, Rômulo Arantes and Djan Madruga as well. They were athletes who were pioneers in this territory. In the 80’s, when I appeared, I think Swimming has never been so in vogue. Gustavo [Borges] came right after me, just like Xuxa [Fernando Scherer]. I think the gold medal has something of all of us, but above all, I think it is talent and effort of César,” he considers.
 
Post career
 
The precociousness of the retirement, without mincing the words, came with the lack of motivation. Nowadays, it would have been different. “Currently, the sport offers things that it didn’t offer at that time. The Brazilian Swimming is much better today, we have better coaches, great clubs investing in training, in structure, in international trips. The athletes now have everything I didn’t have. If it was today, I would have prolonged my career and maybe got some more results. Today, the Brazilians athletes have everything they need here. They don’t need to leave the country, and it is not even advisable in most cases.”
 
Always followed by his studies, most of it in the United States, the athlete career has finished without surprises. The natural transitional to a new profession could serve as an example for many. With bachelor and master degrees in Economy, and another bachelor degree in Physical Education, he has worked as Swimming coach, sports commentator on TV and sporting events manager. For athletes of today, however, the time has changed.
 
“With a more professional sport, athletes start to earn money. Everytime you receive something, you have to give something back. I know that there are athletes that receive money from a sports club and the club doesn’t want them to study, for example, to have exclusive dedication. With the sports becoming more professional and with the sponsorships, a lot of athletes are preferring to study later, what I believe it’s an error. Formerly, we trained at dawn, because we have to go to school afterwards, in the morning. Then, we would come back and train in the afternoon again. Today, we don’t see it very much”, he recalls.
 
Pan-american Games and Olympic Games
 
At the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, as Sports Competition Specialist, Ricardo is part of the team responsible for mounting all of training and competition areas. Purchase of equipments, technical specifications verification and direct contact with the International Federations are part of his daily routine.
 
Also in charge of the competition events calendar, the idol has time in his hands. Side by side with the Sports Director and former Olympic athlete Agberto Guimarães, he was part of the team that prepared the Rio 2007 Pan-american Games, considered the best edition in history.
 
“The Pan-american Games gave an idea of the greatness and responsibility that we have ahead us. It is very interesting to work in an institution such as the Organising Committee, where your work influences the work of many, where communication is very important, where you have to exchange services with people beside you the entire time. It is a constant teamwork.”
 
At the Rio 2016 Committee, new employees, but old fans, are taken by surprise when crossing with the idol in the aisle. The images of Ricardo Prado in the pools from all over the globe, on TV, and on the magazine’s cover of the 80’s are part of our memories. The victories of a watershed, in sport and life, the time cannot erase.
 
Check out other interviews with other Rio 2016 Games' Makers:
 
Agberto Guimarães
Carlos Arthur Nuzman
Gustavo Nascimento
Mariana Mello
Rio 2016 Organising Committee employees

“When there are obstacles, the shortest distance between two points is a crooked line.” The aphorism accredited to the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht can be perfectly applied to Agberto Guimarães' career.

“It’s a process. You don’t go from zero to one hundred in just one jump. You have to pass through all the phases, because when you jump one, your chances to fall on your face are bigger”, teaches the man from Tucuruí, who has 3 Olympic Games on the curriculum as athlete and more than 20 years of experience in sports administration and is the current Sports Director of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee.

“The sport has always been a way for me to get somewhere. I think that’s the difference. I wanted to do what I’m doing, I invested. I’ve worked for this. I’ve passed through the process from the start, learning, listening. It was not a coincidence,” remembers the first Brazilian runner to obtain international sponsorship, participate in an international meeting and win a scholarship in the USA.

It took less than six years between the underfunded countryside of Pará to the best tracks in the world. Discovered with 17 years in a Physical Education class in 1974, Agberto has already risen as the main Brazilian athlete in 800 metres the following year. In 1976, he hit the Brazilian adult record for the first time still as a junior. One more year, and the south-American record was broken. In 1980, Agberto was at the Olympic final in 800 metres in Moscow.

“Besides his talent, he has always had discipline. He had the will to win. He followed the training precisely. If I asked for ten repetitions of 200 metres, he would do it in the time required. In 1974, I went to Germany and said that if he hit the time of 2:15min in the 800 metres when I come back, he would go to Brasília [competing for the High School Tournament]. When I came back, he hit the time of 2:12min”, commented Alberto de Oliveira, Agberto’s first coach and mentor, who has followed him for more than ten years.

Check out a photo gallery of the victorious career of Agberto Guimarães

“I would say I am a bridge”

“The image of Agberto crying in an interview, after finishing in fourth place in a competition of which he lead part in Moscow, moved me a lot. Then, I thought that when I got to the Olympic Games, I would bring a medal to put an end to that feeling”, remembers Joaquim Cruz, six years younger than Agberto, winner of the gold medal at the same sport event on the following edition of the Olympic Games, in Los Angeles. “He was kind of an older brother. He used and uses the sport to serve people. He enjoyed Athletics and reached the dream of using sport for educational purposes, as a preparation for the end of his career.”

With Agberto’s help, Joaquim was able to know the structure of USA universities, where he developed his potential till the Olympic medal and the Physical Education degree. In common, the Brazilian coach. At this time, Alberto de Oliveira stayed in Brazil, and Luiz Alberto de Oliveira assumed the mission of training Agberto, Joaquim Cruz and another icon of the middle-distance races of the 80’s: Zequinha Barbosa.

“This one I literally put under the wings and took with me”, jokes Agberto. “Even if I paid one hundred million reais, it wouldn’t be enough to thank him. Agberto was our idol, our example,” says Zequinha, with four editions of Olympic Games (1984 to 1996) in the curriculum, medalist in world championships and with bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Marketing and Physical Education. 

“Agberto is an easy-going guy. As an athlete, he was always among the best in the world. He was very hard on himself. When he lost a competition, it was a disaster, but he always bounced back. And all of them prioritized the education, which is the most important thing”, says Luiz Alberto, who is known for innovating circuit trainings, friend of Agberto and godfather of his son.

Leader of a memorable generation of the Brazilian Athletics, Agberto hold out the hand to athletes that competed against him at that time, at the same sport events. “This is what I do. It is my priority to create the best environment for my team, so that they can do what they do best. I feel grateful. If I had done all the rest but this, it wouldn’t be so especial. Till today, my role is to make things easier. If I could define myself, I would say I am a bridge. I create a link between one point and the other, I try to guide people along the way”.

Education as a priority on the way to the Olympic summit
In 1999, there were ten years that Agberto has retired from the tracks. The experience in organizing events of the scale of the 1994 Women’s Volleyball World Championship reached the highest point with the invitation from the Brazilian Olympic Committee to plan the Youth Training Centre. He was the General Manager of the Olympic Solidarity Programme – a set of initiatives financed by the IOC with the purpose of reducing the gap of performance between athletes of certain countries. He classified this phase as crucial for his career. The contact with athletes, coaches and sport executives in the area of professional qualification and training, as well as the opportunity of dialoguing with other countries, borne fruit in short term.

When he was working in the area of Sports Development of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, he was responsible, among other tasks, for the athletes’ career transition orientation: “Few athletes as I made this career transition deliberately. The sport has always been a way. I haven’t abandoned anything of my academic professional qualification to the sport career. I would never do that. I believe that prioritizing education is vital for the people and the country.”

The success of the Rio 2007 Pan and Para Pan-American Games, of which he was Sports General Manager, and the fact that Rio has won the bid for the 2016 Games, are symbols of his ambitious trajectory. “We will get to 2016 much better. The Games will leave, as a sport legacy, Training Centres in Rio, that will gather athletes, coaches and sport executives in one place. Brazil will have a new face to present to the world. Eight years after hosting the Games, we will be one of the five major world powers.”

In sport and life, Agberto Guimarães’ history mixes up with the history of the country that has chosen to create the future. Through crooked lines, he was a pioneer and keeps opening doors. From Tucuruí to Brazil and the world, the shortest distance between the past and the future is a bridge, crossed step by step.

Check out other interviews with other Rio 2016 Games' Makers:

Carlos Arthur Nuzman

Gustavo Nascimento

Mariana Mello

Ricardo Prado

Rio 2016 Organising Committee employees