Marlene Mendes
As far as I know, Brazil was the first country to
organize Masters Swimming events, which started around 1981. At first, they
were put into practice by the Rio de Janeiro Swimming Federation and only
short races were swum. (50 and 100m.)
In December, 1984, Masters Swimming Brazilian
Association, (ABMN) was satarted and the great majority of the participants
had formerly been swimmers who were anxious to return to the pools.
The 1st. World Masters Games in Toronto,
Canada in 1985 was the first great opportunity for us Brazilians to join the
world od Masters Swimming and actually it was a fantastic experience for
those who took part in them.
Since then, Masters swimming has been growing steadily;now ABMN has more than 5000 members all over Brazil, with
sub-committees in nearly all the states. We organize 2(two) Long Course and
2(two) Short Course Brazilian Championships a year, always trying to attract
new members to our Association from all parts of the country.
We have already hosted several International Meets as
follows:
