Confirming that he is to spend most of his time in Brazil for his London 2012 preparations, Cesar Cielo, Olympic dash emperor and world champion over 50m and 100m freestyle, has announced plans to form a professional swim training unit in Sao Paulo. The scheme, costing just over US$1m, is likely to attract state support in the years ahead after talks between Cielo's mother Flavia and Brazil's Sports Minister Orlando Silva Jr.

The name of the scheme - Pro 16 - screams its mission: success at a home Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Cielo will work alongside Nicholas Santos, Nicolas Oliveira, Tales Cerdeira and Leonardo de Deus, under the guidance of coach Alberto "Albertinho" Silva.

The group has left open the possibility that it will also spend some time at Auburn with coach Brett Hawke, who guided Cielo to Olympic and world-championshiop success. Cielo's legacy announcement took place at the Olympic Centre of Training in Sao Paulo this week. The money for the scheme comes from sponsorship wooed by Cielo's success. Pro 16 is the swimmer's way of benefitting further but also giving back in the interest of his nation's swim future.

Flávia Cielo's talks with minister Orlando Silva Jr., in January, are likely to result in public funds flowing to the scheme, though nothing has been agreed as yet. "The Minister liked our idea and said that it is going to work out a plan for funds for the scheme to flow through an institution we can tie the knot with - probably the COB [Confederation of Brazilian Swimming]," Cielo's mum told the Folha de Sao Paulo. She will run the project with her husband and the swimmer's father Caesar Augusto, a grand imperial name suitable for the father of a champ if ever there was one.