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The mystery behind the success of Brazil 's yachtsmen has lasted nearly fifty years: Brazil has competed in all Olympic yachting events since 1948, always coming in among the top ten. Yachting in Brazil is the second sport in terms of Olympic medals won, with a score of ten, compared to eleven by athletics.

The reasons given by the experts for the success achieved by Brazilian yachtsmen are simple. The nation has a very long coastline that attracts enormous numbers of people to take part in water-sports - as in the United States , Australia , New Zealand and other major world forces in yachting. Yachting, a pastime brought to Brazil by North Americans, Europeans and their descendants, has become a sport that attracts those who do not even have a boat.

The names of Brazilian competitors at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics reveal the foreign influence on the sport: Alfredo and Rolf Bercht and Ralph Roderbourg reached seventh place; at the Rome Olympics in 1960, Reinaldo Conrad was fifth. In the 1960's Brazilian yachting already had an international reputation: Reinaldo and Ralph Conrad, Axel and Eric Schmidt as well as Joerg Bruder collected titles all over the world. The first Olympic medal was won in Mexico in 1968 by Reinaldo Conrad and Buckhard Cordes in the Flying Dutchman class. At the same Games, the Schmidt brothers took seventh place in the Star class.

Subsequent Olympic Games have served to further the development of Brazilian yachting. In Munich in 1972, Conrad and Cordes came fourth in the Flying Dutchman class as did Joerg Bruder and Ian Aten in the Star class; Axel and Erik Schmidt and Patrick Mascarenhas came sixth in the Soling class; Mario Buckup and Peter Ficker were seventh in the Tempest class. Four years later in Montreal , Reinaldo Conrad won his second bronze medal, also in the Flying Dutchman class, this time with Peter Ficker, whilst Claudio Bieckark took fourth place in the Finn class.

In Moscow , with the First World boycott by the United States , Brazil ended up at the top of the podium for yachting. The victory of Alex Welter and Lars Bjorsktrom, achieved by good results in the Tornado class, was considered as being fully expected; but the gold medal won by Marcos Soares and Eduardo Penido in the 470 class was quite a surprise. In addition to medals, Brasil came fourth in the Finn class, once again with Claudio Bieckark; sixth in the Soling class with Vicente and Gastao Brun and Roberto Martins; and eighth in the Flying Dutchman with the veteran Reinaldo Conrad and Manfred Kauffman.

The 1980's marked the rise of a new generation of yachtsmen: the brothers Torben and Lars Grael, Alan Adler, Pedro Bulhoes, all winners of international titles. In the Los Angeles Olympics, Torben Grael, with Daniel Adler and Ronald Senft won a silver medal in the Soling class; Lars Grael and Glen Haynes came seventh in the Tornado class with Marcos Temke sixth in the Flying Dutchman class.

In 1988, Torben Grael was to win another medal for Brazil - the bronze with Nelson Falcao in the Star, a class in which he later won the world title (Alan Adler also became world champion in the Star class). In Seoul , Lars Grael and Clinio de Freitas also won the bronze in the Tornado class. The 1990's did not get off to a promising start for Brazilian yachting on account of unexpected failure at the Barcelona Olympics - the first Olympic games without medals since 1972; recovery came later in the Laser class with the appearance of Robert Scheidt and Peter Tanscheidt, two world champions, and the return of Torben Grael to the leading positions in international competition in the Star class. At the Olympic Games in Atlanta , Brazilians athletes were once again successful: two gold medals, with Robert Scheidt, in the Laser class, and the couple formed by Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira, in Star class, and one bronze medal to Lars Grael and Kiko Pellicano, for the Tornado class.

Great agility and speed of strokes, creativity and a highly refined technique based on the teachings of Japanese masters who immigrated to Brazil . With this mixture of oriental philosophy and Brazilian swaying of the body, judo as practised in Brazil has become one of the most highly rated in the world. The Brazilian Judo Confederation (CBJ) has estimated that 2.5 million people throughout the country practise the sport. The sport, which was brought to Brazil less than one hundred years ago now ranks as number three in terms of numbers of Olympic medals won, after athletics and yachting.

Jigoro Kano created this martial art in 1882 by combining several fighting techniques. Kano , the son of traditional saki producers set up a new school of movement in Tokyo and called it judo - which means smooth way in Japanese. During the 1930's, after the Second World War, the martial art spread through several countries gaining international acclaim. Eighty-two years after its creation, the sport became an Olympic event at the Tokyo Games in 1964.

The first Brazilian Judo Championship was organized in 1954 by the Brazilian Boxing Federation. Two years later, second place at the Pan-American Games in Cuba won Brazil its first medal in an international competition. After that, Olympic success was not long in coming. In 1972, Chiaki Ishii brought the sport's first Olympic medal from Munich - the bronze in the medium-weight class.

Many ippons, waziaris and yukos later, Walter Carmona also came back with the bronze medal in the medium weight from the French World Championships in 1979. From then on, Brazilian judoists achieved increasing prominence in competitions around the world. At the Pan-American Games in Caracas in 1983, Brazil won no fewer than eleven medals without having ever won an Olympic gold. The half-weight, Douglas Vieira came second in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 when Luis Onmura in the lightweight category and the medium-weight Walter Carmona won bronze medals. With these results, the Brazilian dream of attaining the number one position on the podium was moving closer to reality.

Around that time, Aurelio Miguel was beginning to win titles that would lead to his recognition as one of the best Brazilian judoists of all time. In 1987 he won the bronze medal in the World Championships in Germany, going on to win one of five gold medals in the Pan-American Games in Indianapolis. Destiny had meanwhile decreed that Brazil 's first Olympic gold medal should be won in the Orient: at the Seoul games in 1988, Aurelio remained unbeaten in the medium-weight class.

After the victory by Aurelio Miguel, gold medal fever appeared to have spread only as far as national competitions. Although he never succeeded in repeating the fine performance that won him first place at the previous Olympics, Rogerio Sampaio vouchsafed the championship for Brazil , at that time in the middle light-weight category. In 1995, at the Pan American Games at Mar Del Plata , the Brazilian judo team returned with some very precious luggage: thirteen medals, including one gold - won by Jose Mario Tranquillini - together with three silver and nine bronze. At the Olympic Games of 1996, tradition was kept alive: Aurelio won the bronze medal for the half heavyweight category and Henrique Guimaraes also won the bronze medal for the half lightweight category. Four other competitors, among them the lightweight Sebastian Pereira, junior world champion that same year, were among the top 10.

As a leading force in South American swimming, Brazil produced three record-holders in the history of the sport but no Olympic champion until the Atlanta Games. Since the last century, swimming has been popular amongst the Brazilian upper classes and the first competitions between clubs started early in the twentieth century. At the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920, the first in which Brazil took part, five swimmers - all of them men - made up part of the small team of just twenty-nine Brazilian athletes.

Yet it was a woman who was the first to make swimming history. At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles , the seventeen-year-old Maria Lenk became the first Brazilian woman to take part in an Olympic competition. Whilst still young, she competed in the 100 metres free-style, the 100 metres backstroke and the 200 metres breaststroke but did not manage to achieve the podium. Seven years later, Maria Lenk beat the world records for the 100 metres and 200 metres breaststroke, which had become her particular speciality, but her Olympic career was cut short by the Second World War which led to the cancellation of the Games in 1940 and 1944.

The first Olympic medal was to come only in 1952 in Helsinki , thanks to the efforts of Tetsuo Okamoto, a long-distance specialist. Okamoto twice beat the South American record: his swim of 19 min. 05 sec. in the preliminary trials before becoming the first South American to swim under 19 minutes with a time of 18 min. 51 sec., winning the bronze medal in the finals. The second medal, also bronze, was won in 1960 at the Rome Olympics, when third place went to Manoel dos Santos in the 100 metres free-style with a time of 55.4 seconds.

The second Brazilian world record-holder emerged in the 1960s: Jose Silvio Fiolo broke the 100 metres breaststroke and was Brazil 's great hope for a medal in the Mexico City Games in 1968. The dream never came true and Fiolo only managed fourth place, just one tenth of a second from the podium. Fiolo once again competed in his last Olympics coming sixth in Munich , when the alternating 4 x 100 metres came in fourth place.

An Olympic gold medal seemed to have become an unattainable objective. In Montreal , the outstanding Brazilian swimmer was Djan Madruga, another long-distance specialist. Djan came fourth both in the 400 metres free-style, with 3 min. 57 sec. and in the 1500 metres with 15 min. 19 sec. Twenty years after Manoel dos Santos won his medal, Brazil once again found its way on to the Olympic podium in Moscow: the team in the 4 x 200 metres free-style, with Jorge Fernandes, Djan Madruga, Ciro Delgado and Marcus Mattioli, won the bronze medal. Meanwhile, Madruga once again came fourth in the 400 metres free-style.

Between the Olympic Games in Moscow and Los Angeles , Brazil again boasted a world record-holder: Ricardo Prado from Sao Paulo , broke the record for the 400 metres medley. But in 1984 the Olympic title once again proved elusive: despite an excellent time of 4 min. 18 sec., Pradinho only managed the silver medal, the first one in Brazilian swimming. The second medal was to come in Seoul from Gustavo Borges, second in the 100 metres free-style. The third silver medal was also given to Gustavo Borges, in the 200-m free style, in Atlanta , where Gustavo (in the 100 m) and Fernando Scherer (in the 50-m free style) won the bronze medal.

For the past 30 years, Brazilian tennis had achieved only minor accomplishments but in May 1997 it was practically reborn thanks to a young player from Santa Catarina, Gustavo Kuerten, who surprised the world by winning the title at the French Open, at Roland Garros, which is one of the four most important tournaments in the world. For the first time ever, a Brazilian tennis player won one of the Grand Slam tournaments (which are the open of Australia , England and USA ).

With his long hair and wearing colourful clothes, which are a novelty in these tournaments, Guga, as he is known beat, at 20, some of the best players on gravel - which is used on the courts at Roland Garros - in the world. During the tournament, which was to bring him his first title at the French. Open, he beat three of its past champions: the Austrian player Thomas Muster, the Russian Ivegeny Kafelnikov and finally the Spanish player Sergi Bruguera. The "gravel surfer" - as Kuerten was referred to by the press due to his passion and talent for surfing - became the first Brazilian to rank among the top 10 players of the Association of Professional Tennis Players. Nevertheless, it was in 1999 that Guga achieved his best results, by winning two Super 9 Tournaments ( Monaco and Rome ) and reaching the quarterfinals in three Grand Slam tournaments ( France , Wimbledon and United States ). Guga became third in the world ranking.

Guga is in fact passionate about all types of sport. He played basketball, volleyball, football, surfing and tennis up to the age of 13, when he joined the Ceval team (a food factory based in Blumenau , in the state of Santa Catarina). It was there that he met Larri Passos, who coaches him to this day. His decision to concentrate on tennis and abandon other sports in great part stemmed from seeing Brazil beat Germany (with Boris Becker and all) and Italy during the Davis Cup.

However, before Gustavo Kuerten's historic victory on gravel at the French Open, Brazil 's best performances in Grand Slam tournaments were on grass. Brazil's most famous name in tennis is still Maria Ester Bueno, who won eight titles at Wimbledon, three singles (1959/60/64) and five doubles (1958/60/63/65/66), and is revered at the All England Tennis Club courts to this day. In spite of winning the US Open four times, she never won in France , coming close to victory in 1964, when she came second to Margareth Smith.

Up to May 1997, Ronald Barnes, was the only Brazilian to have reached the semi-final at a Grand Slam in the men's tennis: at the US open in 1963, on the grass courts of Forest Hills . In 1959, Barnes was one of the finalists of the junior tournament at Wimbledon . His name was included in the hall of fame of Brazilian tennis when he reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Open at a time when the game was not professional and the tournament played on grass courts. After winning four games, having beat the American Dennis Ralston, number two at the time, he was in turn beat by the also American Frank Froehling - who came second at the Open that year.