Brazilian swimmer equals Pan Am gold medal-winning record

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-23 13:33

With a total of six gold medals in the same edition of the Pan American Games, Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira equaled the record set by the Cuban gymnast Eric Lopez in 2003.

Being the fastest competitor in the 200m breaststroke, 200m backstroke, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley, and taking part in the teams that won the gold in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays, Pereira said that he would still wait for the end of the swimming tournament to be totally "aware" of his record-breaking mark.

Following his sixth victory in his sixth final at the Games on Saturday, the athlete said he feared tiredness on the last day of the tournament.

On Sunday, he swam in the 100m backstroke and in the 4x100 medley relay, winning the bronze medal in the former and the silver in the latter. Such results might lead to the thinking that the swimmer, who also broke five Pan Am Games records in the competition, finally showed signs of exhaustion after so many finals, proving his point in the press conference the day before.

"I am no superman," he responded, when journalists asked if he had ever dreamt of becoming a superhero. He stressed that the achievements in the Pan Am Games were the consequence of a process initiated in Oct. 2006, when he started to target the event.

"Now I can see that was worthwhile," he added.

Pereira, who also overcame the number of Pan Am golds (five) won by the all-time best swimmer Mark Spitz, stressed that his plans from now on are to focus on the preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Brazil swimming's overall performance presented expressive improvement from the scenario in the 1990s, when most of the significant titles were won by two athletes, Olympians Gustavo Borges and Fernando Scherer. In Rio de Janeiro's Games, including Pereira's medals, Brazilian male and female swimmers got a total of 27 medals in the event, up from the previous record of 21 medals in 2003 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.