As a follow-up to our initial report on how South American nations began making their way back to the pool, the compilation that initially contained five countries among which were Paraguay, Uruguay or Colombia has seen some additions. Here is the latest on South American swimming progress amid the pandemic:
ECUADOR
While we initially included Ecuador in our initial report, this time there’s a tweak to their situation. As initially reported in Spanish by SwimSwam Espanol’s Adrian Mancebo, two-time Olympian and 2017 open water world silver medalist Samantha Arevalo joined the list of Ecuadorian swimmers when she made her return to the pool on French soil.
Arevalo trains in the French municipality of Montpellier as part of a 15-strong squad including French open water ace and Rio 2016 silver medalist Marc-Antoine Olivier. The group is coached by Philippe Lucas.
CHILE
As SwimSwam Espanol’s Fernando Cicutti reports, since July 15, health and sports authorities of the Chilean national government obtained authorization for an estimated 200 athletes to resume their training beyond the quarantine that still governs, in different phases, in most of the country. Among them is a single swimmer, Mahina Valdivia, currently on national soil.
Her story is particular because in order to continue swimming during confinement she received help from other Chilean athletes. Siblings Francisco, Tiare, Rodrigo and Felipe Miranda, prominent figures of water skiing in their country and in the world ranks, provided Valdivia with a house that had a lake at its disposal so that she would not lose contact with the water while waiting for pools to reopen.
GUATEMALA
The Guatemalan governing body for the sport (FENADEGUA), announced last July that, in spite of the nation’s president not addressing a return to the pool the federation continues to work as they strive to ensure a safe return to the pool.
“The swimming federation continues tirelessly implementing measures for the pool return,” the document reads. “As such, it is convenient to provide athletes with the support for their physical wellness, to the administrative staff to continue with the monitoring at home pending business hours, for the fulfillment of the obligations of our aquatic sports institution.”
EL SALVADOR
The situation for El Salvadorian swimmer Celina Marquez is similar to Grassi’s case, per El Salvadorian outlet La Pagina. Marquez currently holds “B” qualifying standards for next summer’s Games in both the 100 and 200-meter backstroke.
While there are no meets scheduled in her home country as of yet, she eyes the possibility of racing at several meets in the U.S., according to the report. Marquez has been back in the water for nearly two months.
COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Omar Pinzon has been swimming throughout these past few months per his social media feed, although it seems as if he’s only been able to train in a 25-meter pool since late June.
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