Partners in Performance: Bruno Fratus and Michelle Lenhardt

With the world shutting down, we’re reaching into our archives and pulling some of our favorite stories from the SwimSwam print edition to share online. If you’d like to read more of this kind of story, you can subscribe to get a print (and digital) version of SwimSwam Magazine here. This story was originally published in the 2017 Year In Review edition of SwimSwam Magazine.

This is how Brazil’s Bruno Fratus, a two-time silver medalist at the 2017 World Championships, describes the support structure around him: a back-end team working to ensure he’s able to keep making his mark among the world’s elite sprinting talent at the age of 28.

An important component of that support squad is Michelle Lenhardt, the former Brazilian sprinter and Pan American Games relay medalist, who also happens to be Fratus’s wife.

Fratus and Lenhardt were married in 2014 in Atlanta after about two years of dating — or, as Fratus describes it, two years of persuading her to give him a chance. The couple has since built a multidimensional relationship that works for them, one that involves Lenhardt wearing many different hats daily.

Lenhardt takes on a very active coaching role in Fratus’s training, which resulted in her being on deck for most of his practices leading up to the 2017 World Championships. Still technically under Auburn head coach Brett Hawke’s command, Fratus would have his workouts overseen by Lenhardt, who Fratus says “knows me better than any other assistant coach ever could.” Lenhardt would accompany Fratus and monitor his practices, critiquing him along the way to his 50-meter freestyle silver medal in Budapest.

“Michelle is the best assistant coach I ever had,” Fratus said. “I believe the fact that she was a swimmer herself not so long ago makes her perception about swimming and training overall really fresh. Plus she has a great eye and knows my technique and habits, good and bad, from top to bottom … not mentioning the fact that she is beyond tough at the pool deck — she won’t let me flop a single yard!”

For Lenhardt, having such a hands-on role in her husband’s success is extremely gratifying.

“It was different from when I was swimming,” she said. “As a swimmer, I had absolute control on my races. I could tell why and how I had the results that I had.

“With Bruno, I could witness his success both as a spectator and as someone that actually worked with him, which are two different feelings. In the first case, it was all about emotions and cheering. But, as one of his coaches, I’m much more analytical and rational both at training and competitions.”

Not only did Lenhardt play a significant part in Fratus’s aquatic training, but Fratus entrusts her with his overall nutrition planning as well. As an owner of a fitness consulting company, Lenhardt prescribes Fratus’s nutrition structure, doses his supplements, and acts as his food consultant when he’s traveling alone and wants to make the right menu choices. Lenhardt is a certified personal trainer who also writes Fratus’s program for the weight room — a domain in which they often try to outdo each other.

Lenhardt said she relished how the pair’s marriage and professional responsibilities were constantly integrated.

“If I wasn’t that much involved, I don’t think I would ever understand when he has to be out for months on training camps or racing, or even his bad mood when he’s working aerobic workouts,” she said. “The mindset of a high-level athlete — especially a sprinter — is not something that everybody gets.”

According to Fratus, the mindset of a sprinter often entails “wanting everything ready right now.” The Brazilian speedster says he expects to get faster each day — “I want to get personal bests every day,” he says — which can leave him easily frustrated and moody.

“When a workout doesn’t go well, it can ruin my entire day,” he said. “Or I might be overly preoccupied trying to analyze my workout.”

But Fratus says Lenhardt can “understand and relate” to this recurring self-pressure, often calling him on it if it’s interfering with their life at home.

Maintaining an up-front, no-nonsense method of communication about training and life in general is rooted in Fratus and Lenhardt’s possessing intense, strong personalities. Lenhardt describes both of them as being “really driven and explosive — passionate about our goals.”

“We like to keep each other motivated and challenge one another,” she said.

Fratus added: “We work as a team towards our goals, and the fact that she is an athlete/coach only makes it better. Usually, people that work on ‘regular jobs’ have absolutely no idea what it takes to be an Olympian. Our life is about performance.”