Brazilian Athletics Tour 2012

The Brazilian athletics tour is a series of six meets with a different combination of events.  These are really well run meetings and great opportunity to face some really good lineups.  I got a preview of some of the athletes who were coming on my connecting flight into Belem.  It was a mix of familiar and new faces.  As we were collecting our luggage and checking in with the meeting organizers a local group was playing music and dancing. A nice welcome to Brazil for us.

Belem, Brazil was the first stop on the tour for me.  This was an early morning meet starting at 830am and over by 12pm.  And I threw at 9am which for me was like throwing at 7am in my time zone.  When I saw the start list the night before I knew it was going to be a great competition.  Several World and Olympic finalist, a very decorated Barrios from Cuba, and others with world leading marks in the field.  I was able to pull out the win with 61.41 meters.

The 2nd stop was in Fortaleza, Brazil and this was a city I hadn’t been to before.  Our hotel was right on the water with a great view and a fabulous pool area.  We were also really close to a local market and able to get fresh coconut waters, yummy.  I was able to get a couple of great training sessions in before the 2nd meet.  The best training day was when a group of us throwers went into the local weight room.  It was really more of a fitness club, everyone in their cut offs working on shoulders and biceps and listening to American hip hop.   We started to get the funny looks when we gathered up some bars and a bunch of plates and took over a fitness room doing power cleans and snatches.

This 2nd meet was a night meet, which in that heat was a great idea.  Our start time was 8pm and again we had the same field of throwers from the 1st meet.  I knew it was going to be another battle in the ring.  I didn’t find my groove in this meet until late in the rounds.  I threw a tad further with 61.44 meters but this time I finished in 3rd.

To finish my part of the series with a Gold and Bronze was great.  Now I have a few training days in front of me and my 1st Diamond League Meeting on May 19th in Shangahi, China.  I’ll keep you posted.

Belem Results

Fortaleza Results