Brazil Sending 18 Swimmers to BRICS Games in Russia Next Month

Brazil is sending 18 swimmers to the BRICS Games next month from June 11-24 in Kazan, Russia, including five past Olympians.

Brazilian Roster for 2024 BRICS Games

Men

Women

Coaches

The team features three swimmers who competed at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and two who went to the Rio 2016 Olympics, but none of the 18 who will be representing Brazil in Paris in July. Bringing experience to the table from Tokyo are 25-year-old Matheus Gonche, 26-year-old Giovanna Diamante, and 27-year-old Nathalia Almeida.

Veteran breaststroker João Luiz Gomes Jr will also make the trip to Kazan for the BRICS Games at 38 years old. Gomes Jr was a 100 breast finalist at the Rio 2016 Olympics and has remained active on the international racing scene since. Fellow Rio 2016 Olympian Brandonn Almeida, 27, was also selected for Brazil’s squad based on national rankings from 2023 and 2024.

Another veteran talent, 29-year-old Leonardo Santos, is a former world record holder in the SCM 4×200 free relay from his performance at the 2018 Short Course World Championships.

The roster also includes up-and-coming talents such as 20-year-old Stephan Steverink, 18-year-old Beatriz Bezerra, and 18-year-old Thaiana Amaral. Steverink has competed at the past two World Championships, Bezerra won silver medals in the 50 fly and 100 fly at the 2022 World Junior Championships, and Amaral swam at World Juniors last year.

Giulia Carvalho is a rising senior at the University of Miami who made the A-final of the 100 fly at the 2024 ACC Championships in February and the B-final at the 2024 NCAA Championships in March.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization that started as a group of leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It recently expanded to include the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

The BRICS Games is growing, too, with 29 sports this year attracting more than 5,000 athletes from more than 50 countries, including Kazakhstan, Turkey, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bahrain, and Congo. Last year, there were only six sports and five countries involved. Gold medalists will receive about $3,000 USD each, with about $2,000 for silver and $1,200 for bronze.

Russia, of course, can only send swimmers to the Paris Olympics in July as neutral athletes without national symbols. Last month, All-Russia Swimming Federation head Vladimir Salnikov said there are no Russian swimmers requesting neutral status after Olympian Ivan Girev reportedly canceled his approved application. However, three-time Olympic medalist Yulia Efimova has left the door open to compete in Paris while world record holder Evgeniia Chikunova is among those who have publicly withdrawn.

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Eugene
6 months ago

I probably won’t be rooting for Brazil in Paris after that. Shame…

Seth
6 months ago

I wonder if there will be any controversy with this event knowing Russias involvement with Ukraine.

Philip Johnson
6 months ago

Will they win any medals?

Comet16
6 months ago

BRICS might not be dominating swimming yet but they could be dominating the worlds economy soon

Greg P
Reply to  Comet16
6 months ago

Add Indonesia and Turkey.

South Africa in BRICS is actually at lower rank. Other members of BRICS are even smaller in terms of economy: Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.

By PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), Indonesia is the 7th biggest economy and Turkey the 11th, while SAF is at 32.

Even by nominal GDP, Indonesia is at #16 and Turkey #18 while SAF at #40.

Asian economies like Indonesia, Saudi, and SEA are growing at much faster rates that SAF and Brazil which are in BRICS.

FST
Reply to  Greg P
6 months ago

I don’t know about any of these other countries, but Turkey’s economy has been in free fall for a while now (over 2 years). Inflation is through the roof there (70% last month) and it’s not stopping any time soon. There will be no economic domination whatsoever from Turkey.

Last edited 6 months ago by FST
Dee
Reply to  FST
6 months ago

Declining population and foreign investment fleeing China along with a housing oversupply crisis, huge uncertainty surrounding Brazil, UAE pivoting to the west a month after joining by excluding Chinese tech & AI investment in favour of a deal with the Americans, China and India diplomatically frozen with no sign of a thaw, Russia, well Russia is Russia, Iran in deep turmoil and the Saudis strategically tied to the west with no sign of that changing.

All is not well for the BRICS.

Dee
Reply to  Comet16
6 months ago

Meaningless when it won’t manifest in political alignment or economic coordination because half the members hate the other half. It’s a bit of a vanity project in reality, little men wanting to feel important.

Sapiens Ursus
Reply to  Comet16
6 months ago

That’s because BRICS isn’t a coherent anything really like say NAFTA or the G7. It was invented by Goldman Sachs to encourage investments in their products and services. Members like China and India are quite openly antagonist to one another and do not all represent any sort of common purpose our cause

Humans trade with other humans. How earth shattering

Let’s recognize what’s really happening. The United States uses it’s dominance of global finace to promote it’s interest including ideological, and China has become willing to offer their finacial services to those ideological adversaries being cut out of US led hyper globalization of the world economy.

The crafting of a sort mytique of a vague widespread alignment against… Read more »

Last edited 6 months ago by Sapiens Ursus
Rafael
Reply to  Sapiens Ursus
6 months ago

You cant say you support human right while backing saudi Arabia for like forever, liberalism while being protective like 100% tax on china electric cars and other measures and protecting freedom of speech while sending the Police on College students, while at the same time allowing white supremacist marching free on the streets.

Last edited 6 months ago by Rafael
Rafael
Reply to  Rafael
6 months ago

And not that I am backing China, but the majority of human rights protection, freedom of speech and liberalism does not pass the reality test when needed, money and protection speaks higher

Sapiens Ursus
Reply to  Rafael
6 months ago

I fully invite people to consider that the western liberal nation state as an ancestor of the western colonial empire may not be inherently good. Indeed the UN declaration of human rights is purely aspriational, the plain truth is the victorious powers of WW2 were racially segregated, a past more recent than we want to admit, Biden was born in 1942…

Thomas Hobbes did not compare the English state to the biblical leviathan lightly. Modern China certainly provides quite a fascinating foil for it

Rafael
Reply to  Sapiens Ursus
6 months ago

In the 70s the freedom powers were backing coups and dictatorships in Latin america and asia, no need to go back to WW2. Saudi arabia today is also heavily supported and other dictators in Africa and Middle east as long as they supply cheap Oil, gas, uranium, cocoa, etc.

Snarky
6 months ago

Seems like a high school detention meet for naughty countries.

Sun Yangs Hammer
6 months ago

Losers bracket

CELL
6 months ago

Anyone know about Somovs neutral status? He would be a big player in the 100 breast in Paris.

Admin
Reply to  CELL
6 months ago

We asked him, no reply. Have to assume it’s on his radar.

moonlight
6 months ago

Article by Travis Tygart in the Atlantic, which discusses China and Russia:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/05/geopolitics-doping-wada-olympics/678409/

Awsi Dooger
Reply to  moonlight
6 months ago

Fantastic that Tygart continues to push, including the latest summary of, “giving a cock-and-bull story about accidental contamination in the kitchen…”

The Atlantic is a great resource that will spread this story to a different audience. I wonder if Tygart pursued them or if The Atlantic was sharp enough to recognize the value and enlisted Tygart.

I’d love to see WADA try to sue The Atlantic. They’d have a better chance with the ocean.

About Riley Overend

Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …

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