Olympic and world champion Cesar Cielo will take to his blocks in heats at the first round of the 2010 FINA/Arena World Cup in Rio de Janeiro uncertain where he will be training come the turn of the year, according to O Globo in Brazil.
A events get underway at the Maria Lenk aquatics centre (you can see the venue in all its glory at Best Swimming, the No1 swim portal for South America and constantly in touch with events worldwide), Cielo told reporters: "The moment things are not working well is the moment to change." At Pan Pacific Championships last month in California, Cielo finished second in the 50m free and third in the 100m free, the two events in which, under the tutelage of coach Brett Hawke at Auburn, he became world champion and which in 2008 brought him the dash Olympic crown and a bronze in the blue ribband 100m.
But the Brazilian said today that he is considering a permanent move back to Rio after being unhappy with events so far this summer. "I didn't like it one bit [his results at Pan Pacs] but it came at the right moment, before Olympic year comes round again. In the next three seasons, I can't make any more mistakes. Things are not what they were in Auburn. Where everything was right before, that's not the case today." The swimmer avoided laying blame elsewhere and at Pan Pacs emphasised that his results came down to him not having done enough to win.
Cielo has of late had some home company at Auburn, in the form of friends and national teammates Nicholas dos Santos and Henrique Barbosa. Until December, the three will stay in Brazil, racing for Flamengo at the Troféu José Finkel at the end of this month. They will train in Rio at the Gávea and Parque Aquático Júlio de Lamare pools. Come December, Cielo will make up his mind: return to Auburn or stay home for his London 2012 campaign.
Today marks Cielo's first world-cup appearance since 2008. "My expectations are simply to lower my short-course best times, which are far from being as good as my long-course bests [relatively speaking]," said Cielo. Last year's cup witnessed 36 world records - as noted in our bull run.
This year's circuit will be somewhat different as far as clock-busting goes, after swimming was reborn with the ban on non-textile suits that boosted performances and worked better for some, less well for others and placed fair play in the shade. Cielo's target is not, of course, world records right now. His focus is on preparation for world titles in Shanghai next July and the Pan-Am Games in Guadalajara in October 2011.
