Brazil Olympic Committee says Shanghai starting blocks are too expensive to buy
The Brazil Olympic Committee has replied to the coach of Cesar Cielo, Alberto Silva that the Shanghai starting blocks are too expensive for the committee to purchase and they cannot buy these blocks before the World Championships.
The committee said that it is impossible for them to purchase a full set of these blocks, while they will try to purchase only a single piece before the 2012 London Olympics.
Ricardo de Moura of the Confederacao Brasileira de Desportos Aquaticos explained that newest Omega Blocks are highly expensive than their previous models and are out of the reach of the Brazilian Committee of Aquatic Sports.
Recently, coach to the Olympic star, Alberto has raised his concern over the inefficiency of CBDA to provide the facility of latest starting blocks to Cielo. He said that Cielo is going to defend his title at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai in July
and the non-availability of starting blocks, which are going to be used in Shanghai, will work as a weapon against the Brazilian star.
Silva stressed that international swimmers are only able to win over each other with the help of small competitive edges but this was a serious problem. Cielo, who has been using the similar type of starting blocks at the National Aquatic Centre, can face
some serious problems while defending his titles in Shanghai during July.
Cielo, who earned the title of 50m freestyle for the first time at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio, has remained undisputed in the 50m event. After that, he earned the title of 50m freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics along with the bronze medal of
100m freestyle. Later, Cielo defended his title of the 50m event at the 2009 World Championships in Rome and earned another gold medal of the 100m freestyle. The following year, he defended his titles at the 2010 World Short Course Championships in Dubai while
at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships, he occupied a silver and a bronze medal in the 50m and 100m freestyle respectively.
Alberto stressed that availability of the latest starting blocks plays a vital role in building a player’s confidence for a particular event. Now, Brazilian swimmers are using a prototype of the new Omega ramps but Silva explains that the latest blocks have
a different slope.
Furthermore, Brazilian committee stays on its decision of hesitating in the purchase of new Omega Blocks. The committee has justified its decision by focusing on the cost efficiency of the budget whereas the Brazilian coach considers this act as mere foolishness.
Now, the 24-year-old Cesar will have his only chance to familiarise with the latest starting blocks before the 2012 Olympics, where he will practice on the new block at Brazil’s 2012 London base.
Tags: