By Winning 13 Medals, the Judo Helps the BOC Achieve Its Goals for the Pan American Games
The Brazilian Judo Confederation was one of the highlights of the Time Brazil’ campaign in the Pan American Games. By winning 13 medals out of 14 possible, namely five gold, two silver and six bronze, the judo helped the country to end its participation in Toronto with 141 medals (41 gold, 40 silver and 60 bronze), ranked on the third place in the competition medals chart, behind the United States (265) and the Canadian hosts (217), being thus able to reach their goals - equal the number of medals won in Guadalajara 2011 and be in top 3. This sport was a highlight of the green and yellow delegation in the competition and Tiago Camilo entered the list of "Series of award" published by BOC on Sunday.
"Time Brasil’s performance in Toronto was one more stage of the continuous evolution of the Brazilian Olympic sport. Besides reaching our targets, thanks to the partnership between the BOC, Confederations, Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Science and Technology and our sponsors, we could increase the number of different sports able to fight for medals in Rio 2016 Games as well as in the next competitions. The sports that have reached the podium for the first time demonstrate the effectiveness of this work, "said the BOC’s President, Carlos Arthur Nuzman.
In Toronto, the country came ahead of Cuba, placed fourth in the medals chart (141-97) and also in number of gold medals (41-36) after 48 years. The Winnipeg 67 Games, also in Canada, were the last in which Brazil had won more gold medals than Cuba. BOC’s main goal for this Olympic cycle is placing Brazil in Top 10 of the medals chart of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, almost doubling the number of achievements in London 2012 (17 medals). In this sense, the Pan was used as a preparatory step for the delegation, composed of several rookies.
"These Pan American Games were special to Brazil considering Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Therefore, we did not have to qualify in all sports and brought a mixed delegation. We had highly experienced athletes, such as the twice Olympic champions Robert Scheidt (sailing), Jaqueline (volleyball), and several champions or Olympic awarded athletes such as Arthur Zanetti (gymnastics), Tiago Camilo (judo), Thiago Pereira (swimming) and many others. Apart from the experienced participants, we brought a lot of young ones, with 70% of the delegation participating for the first time in the Pan American Games. In the end, a delegation seeking to ensure the future of the Brazilian sport, in competitions such as Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Tokyo 2020. We want to make and keep Brazil an Olympic strength, "said Bernard Rajzman, head of the Brazilian Mission.
The total cost of the mission was R $ 10 million; this money came from the Agnelo/ Piva Law and it covered logistics and operation expenses of the entire Mission as well as its travels. In the following areas services were offered: Sports Medicine (31 workers); Video analysis (04 professionals and more than 527 hours of recordings); Biochemistry (02 professionals and 2.612coletas blood and analyze individualized 35,126 variables;. Nutrition (03 professionals) and Mental Preparation (07 professionals) support structures were assembled at York University, the home of judo competitions, George Brown College and the five Sub-houses of the Games.
