By Nick Gasparro
Chula Vista, CA – The Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center is pleased to welcome back the Brazilian Athletics Confederation to campus. Alison Dos Santos, who won bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games in the 400m hurdles, and the 2022 World Champion, will be participating in the camp. Rafael Pereira, a 2020 Olympian and the South American record holder in the 110m hurdles, will also be participating in the camp which runs from April 16 to July 15. Accompanying the hurdlers will be head coach Felipe Siqueira, and physiotherapist Allan Bruno Bufolin Alves. During their stay, the Brazilian Athletics Confederation will have access to our track and field complex, gym, dining services (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and overnight stay in our dormitories. The Brazilian Athletics Confederation are frequent visitors to CVEATC, as they have been training at our facility since 2003.
Alison Dos Santos broke onto the track and field scene at 19 years of age, winning gold at the 2019 Pan American Games in the 400m hurdles. In the same year, at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, Dos Santos became the first Brazilian track and field athlete to qualify for the 400m hurdles final in 20 years, finishing in 7th place and just 0.25 seconds from a bronze medal.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Dos Santos, who has been training at CVEATC since 2019, earned a bronze medal, breaking the South American record in the process. The event was the strongest in 400m hurdles history, with the three Olympic medalists recording the three best times in the history of the 400m hurdles. The following year, at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Dos Santos became a world champion in the 400m hurdles. It was the first men’s gold in the history of Brazil in the World Athletics Championships. Alison Dos Santos is currently ranked 3rd in the world for the 400m hurdles.
The Brazilian Athletics Confederation has been around since the late 19th century but did not join the World Athletics governing body until 1914, under the name “Brazilian Sports Confederation”. Ten years later, in 1924, the Brazil Athletics Confederation participated in its first Olympic Games, sending a team to the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. José Telles da Conceição won the first Olympic medal for the confederation, a bronze in the men’s high jump event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. Three days later, the confederation got its first gold medal when Adhemar Ferreira da Silva won gold in the men’s triple jump event. Adhemar is credited as being the first track and field star to come out of Brazil, setting multiple world records and winning multiple World Championships. Brazil went on to host the Olympics in 2016 in Rio De Janeiro, the first Olympics held in South America.
The Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center would like to wish the Brazilian Athletics Confederation the best of luck as they continue their preparations for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and qualifications for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
For more information on the Brazilian Athletics Confederation, follow the link below: