Cesar Cielo: World record holder of the 50m and 100m freestyle – Part 1
Brazilian expert, Cesar Cielo, who owns the world records of 50m and 100m freestyle, is undoubtedly the most talented swimmer of his nation. With his exceptional efforts and aggressive swimming strategy, Cielo has conquered the podium of all international
stages.
The 25-year-old Brazilian, who still holds the records, transpired on the elite stage of swimming in 2007. With his tremendous efforts and blistering speed, Cielo made the world record in such a short time and claimed his supremacy over rest of his competitors.
He has performed at the Olympic Games, World Championships Long Course (LC), World Championships Short Course (SC), Pan American Games and Pan Pacific Championships.
He is one of those legendary swimmers, who were able to claim gold medal at the international level in their foremost participation. The Santa Barbara d'Oeste raised Cielo has remained unbeaten in the 50m freestyle at all elite stages.
Cielo served notice of his talent in 2004, where he finished in the top four at the Brazilian national championships and confirmed his spot in the Brazilian 4*100m freestyle relay team to the 2004 World SC Championships in Indianapolis. With his tremendous
skills and intellectual skills, he helped the Brazilian squad to gain silver medal of the event.
After that, he adopted an exhaustive training program to make a significant improvement in his timing and stayed away from competitive swimming for almost two years. His efforts proved fruitful, when he resumed his participation in tournaments and stunned
the audience.
His stardom started in 2007, where he proved his eligibility into the Brazilian team for the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro by dominating his swims at the national championships. He proved his mettle in the events of 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle
by capturing the national gold medal of the events whereas through his outstanding efforts, he automatically qualified into the 4*100m freestyle and 4*100m medley relay squads.
The Brazilian captured gold medals of the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 4*100m freestyle relay while occupied a silver medal in the 4*100m medley relay. Cielo became the centre of attention for media, as he was one of those few brilliant swimmers, who
could clinch three gold medals in their first championship.
Subsequently, the champion of the Pan American Games turned into Brazil’s top most hope for the upcoming Olympic Games. Cielo found no trouble in proving his eligibility under the Federation International de Natation Amateur (FINA) ‘A’ Time Qualification
Standard and qualified for the 100m and 50m freestyle.
With his relentless efforts, he made his country proud at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games by pocketing gold medal of the 50m freestyle in a new Olympic record time. Cielo’s 21.30 seconds effort at the 2008 Beijing sacked the previous Olympic record of 21.91
seconds, owned by Alexander Popov.
His quest for the medal has no ending and the Brazilian once again emerged on the starting blocks for the 100m freestyle. With his immaculate effort, Cielo succeeded in securing third best spot of the race by submitting a time of 47.67 seconds. He remained
slightly slower than Alain Bernard of France and Eamon Sullivan of Australia, who seized first and second position with timings of 47.21 and 47.32 seconds, respectively.
With Cielo’s astonishing efforts in the 50m and 100m discipline at his first Olympic Games, he became the hero of his nation and started to prepare for the 2009 Rome World Championships.
After the 2008 Olympics, Cielo articulated his desire of excelling in both events at the 2009 world titles and therefore, he went under a vigorous training program to improve his timings.
Continued in part 2.
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