Arenas Carioca 1 and 2, at Parque Olímpico da Barra, in Rio de Janeiro, were the scene of historic performances by Brazilian athletes during the Pan American Gymnastics Championships. Brazil won the team gold medal in women’s artistic gymnastics, an unprecedented position in the country in the modality, in addition to the podiums in the individual rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline.

In all, there were 23 days of competitions, between June 26 and Sunday (7/17), with the disputes of six continental championships, adults and young people, in the trampoline, rhythmic and artistic modalities, involving more than 450 athletes. The general coordinator of the Brazilian Gymnastics Confederation (CBG), Henrique Motta, stressed that the event had, among the objectives, to connect two generations of gymnasts.

“It’s the main championship in the Americas, where we have the best athletes, more than 20 countries present and the public here with us. Our mission was to connect the new generation of the sport with the athletes of the adult category and, to on the other hand, high-level athletes to encourage new athletes in the grassroots categories.Without a grassroots, we don’t have new stars, without stars, you don’t have children who are inspired and want to get into the sport. For us, connecting all this is fundamental,” said the director of CBG.

The realization of the international event was guaranteed by a promotion term of 2.7 million reais from the Special Secretariat for Sports of the Ministry of Citizenship with the Brazilian Gymnastics Confederation (CBG). The investment covered items such as temporary infrastructure, procurement of specialized services, food, purchase of consumer and sports equipment, equipment rental and internal transport for delegations, advertising and the media.

Brazilian podiums

The women’s artistic gymnastics team from Brazil won the gold medal and overtook the gymnasts from the United States for the first time. Flávia Saraiva, Rebeca Andrade, Julia Soares, Carolyne Pedro and Lorrane Oliveira totaled 162,999 points and secured their first team title at Pan du mod.

The United States, consisting of Skye Blakely, Kayla Di Cello, Lexi Zeiss, Zoe Miller and Elle Mueller, scored 161,000 points and took silver. Canada, with Sydney Turner, Rose Woo, Ava Stewart, Denelle Pedrick and Shallon Olsen, amassed 155,534 points for bronze.

Rebeca Andrade wanted to share the joy with the fans. “It’s great to have the fans here with us. They are very affectionate and you can see how much it means to them. It was a great pride to be able to represent my country again and to be part of this team with these strong and warrior girls. We have new girls coming now, as well as more experienced athletes, who make this exchange and already feel everything that happens in a competition, “analyzed the gold and silver medalist at the Tokyo 2021 Games.

The Brazilian men’s team, meanwhile, won the team silver medal, behind the United States, who won another Pan American title. Canada completes the podium. Arthur Zanetti, Caio Souza, Diogo Soares, Arthur Nory and Lucas Bittencourt totaled 244,234 points. With the result, the country has guaranteed a place to participate in the Liverpool World Championship, which will be held from the end of October. The United States added 245,698 points and Canada 240,034.

Single man

The main GP in Brazil was Caio Souza. He won the Pan American All-Around Championship, with 83,033 points. The gymnast also won four other medals on apparatus: gold on vault, silver on rings and high bar and bronze on parallels.

“My family was there and it was really nice. In 2019, my mother managed to go to the Pan American Games in Peru and it was exciting for me. Last year I couldn’t have anyone because of the pandemic and this time they came. That’s great because we Brazilians really appreciate that support. At each element, at each race, the public followed and it’s really cool. My family was from Volta Redonda and it was great to be able to count on them,” commented the two-time all-around champion.

Arthur Zanetti, Olympic champion and runner-up at London 2012 and Rio 2016, showed his mastery of the rings and won another gold medal, proving he is fully recovered from the shoulder surgery he suffered after the Tokyo Olympics.

On the pull-up bar, Arthur Nory, apparatus champion at the 2019 Stuttgart World Cup, won bronze for the country.

single female

In the all-around, Brazil’s Flávia Saraiva won the Pan American title. She scored 55,399 points, beating North Americans Lexi Kay Zeiss (54,199) and Skye Blakely (52,933). Flávia earned two more medals: gold on beam, with 14,433 points, and silver on floor, with 13,333.

Rebeca Andrade won the gold medal in the asymmetric parallels. She added 14,967 points, compared to 14,133 for American Zoe Miller. Canadian Sydney Turner completes the podium with 13,967.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Brazil closed its participation in the Pan American Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships for adults also with memorable performances, leaving Arena Carioca 1 with three gold medals and one silver. The team led by coach Camila Ferezin was champion in the series of five arcs, in addition to being vice-champion in mixed. In the individual, the highlight was Geovanna Santos, who won two gold medals: maces and ribbon.

Trampoline

Brazilian athletes also shone in the Trampoline Gymnastics Pan. There were nine medals, including three gold with the duo Alice Hellen and Camilla Gomes in synchronized trampoline, with Camilla also in individual trampoline and with Gabriela Cordeiro, champion in individual trampoline in the juvenile category.

The other six medals were: silver in trampoline for the women’s teams (with Camilla Gomes, Alice Hellen, Ana Luiza Pereira Soares and Maria Luiza França Lopes Oliveira); silver in individual trampoline with Alice Hellen and; bronze in double-mini, with João Guilherme in the adult category. In the youth division, Alice Reis Albuquerque and Arthur Antunes Ferreira won silver and Marcos Paulo won bronze.

Communication consultant – Ministry of Civic Affairs