Manuel dos Santos (swimmer)

Early life

At 4 years of age, Manoel spent months in a hospital, recovering from recurrent threats of pneumonia and similar diseases, that his body suffered. His father saw in swimming the salvation of that drama. Before completing eleven years old, in early 1950, Manoel was studying in Rio Claro, in the Gymnasium Koelle, a German college. The boy found himself away from his family, which he saw only on holidays and "holy week", when he took the train to the western state. There in Rio Claro, the rigid routine of the college, Manoel fits well with the swimming program. In a 20-meter pool, under the guidance of Bruno Buch, his first master, he began to train, compete and make the team gym.

The strongest swimmer of the group was a boy three years older than Manoel, named João Gonçalves Filho, future champion and South American record holder in the backstroke and an athlete in various sports, who participated in various Olympic Games.

1955–60

In 1955, Manoel dos Santos approached the national top. He swam backstroke, and his training was more focused in this style. In the 100-meter freestyle, Brazil was in a time of transition in national leadership. The top three sprinters in the country at the turn of the decade and early '50s (Aram Boghossian, Sérgio Rodrigues and Plauto Guimarães) had retired. Paulo Catunda and Haroldo Lara were the fastest at this time. Lara was the best swimmer in the country until 1957, when he retired, moved to Italy and became an opera singer.

In March 1955, at age 16, Manoel was summoned to his first international competition, the II Pan American Games in Mexico City. At this time, athletes were still amateurs. In Mexico, after a trip into a military aircraft, a DC-3, which lasted four days, with overnight in Belém, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba, Manoel competed very poorly. His main memory of the tournament was the moment he left desolate of proof, fell on a nearby heating pool and pretending to be loosening up, cried a lot, solitude, until the last tear is lost hidden in the middle of chlorine.

At the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City, he finished 4th in the 4 × 100-metre medley.

The following year, on February 56, in Viña del Mar, Chile, was the thirteenth edition of the South American Swimming Championships. At the previous twelve, Brazil defeated Argentina only once, in the same Viña del Mar, in 1941. Manoel dos Santos ranked fifth in the final of the 100-metre freestyle, and Haroldo Lara took the fourth position. In the 200-metre backstroke, Manoel was fourth and the race was won by his compatriot João Gonçalves. In the 4x100-metre freestyle relay, the competition had a spectacular end. Peru team was the gold medalist, with a time of 3:59.7, a championship record. A tenth of a second ago, silver medalist, arrived Brazil. The Argentines came in third, nine-tenths of a second behind Brazil. The Brazilian relay team had Haroldo Lara, Manuel dos Santos, João Gonçalves and Aristarco de Oliveira. In partial takes, Manoel was the fastest of the four. He stated that, at that moment, he realized that his specialty and future were the 100-metre freestyle, and the backstroke was just a byproduct. This flare, this awareness of where his true talent lay resulted in a short time, a leap of improvement. As for the South American, as expected, porteños took the title again.

In November 1956, at the new pool of CR Vasco da Gama, Manoel dos Santos failed to get Olympic qualification, by two tenths of a second.

In 1957, finishing the secondary school in Rio Claro, Manoel dos Santos moved to Santos, São Paulo. The choice of the new city was due to Minoru Hirano, his new coach, teacher, and almost a father. Hirano entered to swimming by the paths of the translation service, carried out during the stay of the "Flying Fish" in Brazil in 1950. Hirano got much swimming knowledge, monitoring and deciphering the Japanese Olympians and world record holders. In the late 50s, the footage of the training, even in Brazil, began to increase substantially. Hirano was against the current. He did Manoel swim a thousand meters and then working leg, positioning stroke, angle etc. chin, and finished with a half dozen shots of 25m. Often he could not attend the training, and Manoel came alone to the session with a little paper in hand, or the sequence decorated into his head.

In December 1957, Manoel broke the Brazilian record of Haroldo Lara, and the South American record of Argentine Pedro Galvao in Santos, on 25 meter pool (still valid in that year), with a time of 56.5. Further, in February 1958, was held the South American Championships in Montevideo. For the first time in the history of the tournament, the winner of the 100-metre freestyle won the race handily, not in the beat of hand, but two and a half seconds ahead of, or fifteen feet away - Manoel dos Santos. The only Brazilian besides Armando Freitas in 1939, to win the gold. The silver medal went to nearly invincible Ismael Martínez Merino, Peruvian three times champion in 52, 54 and 56. The Manoel's time in qualifying, 56.6, represented new South American record, as from 1958, all international federations officiated the rule of consider valid only records obtained in 50 meter pool.

The following year, came the first trip to the United States. The beds in the Olympic village assembled at the University of Chicago, were those of American soft mattress, strange and uncomfortable for someone who grew up sleeping on a hard bed of boarding school. The body aching, and barely slept, and back that do not reared more, affected the balance of swimming. Manoel dos Santos, the great hope of the Brazilian Swimming to win a medal at the Pan American Games in 1959, got only a fourth place in the 100-metre freestyle, swimming above the 58s, when expectations revolved around the 56s. The Manoel's curriculum, regarding Pans, was forever beyond the means of his talent. After Mexico 55 and Chicago 59, Manoel not arrive until São Paulo 63.

At the 1959 Pan American Games, in Chicago, he finished 4th in the 100-metre freestyle. He also swam the 4 × 100-metre medley.

In February 1960, Santos went to the South American Championship in Cali, Colombia. In the altitude, his times were not very good. But Manoel dos Santos fulfilled its role fairly, taking the gold in the 100m freestyle and leading the Brazilian relays to win two golds and a silver. The battle against the Argentines was very fierce, both the female and the male. In the end, Brazil won the first championship in history.

In 1960, Manoel dos Santos was swimmer of the Pinheiros. But he continued to follow the guidelines determined by your Hirano technician, from Santos. He used the Pinheiros pool, and sometimes the Corinthians pool, during the summer and in the winter, down the hill and gave their strokes in the Clube de Regatas Internacional. In July 60, during the pre-Olympic final preparations, in Rio de Janeiro, Manoel convincingly broke his South American record of the 100-metre freestyle, with a time of 55.6. This achievement has positioned him as a strong competitor to the Olympic medal in Rome.

1960 Summer Olympics

Manuel, who started to swim for health problems, was the first Brazilian to get an Olympic medal in the sport in the 1960 Games.

In August, the Brazilian swimming team left for Europe. First, a meaningless stop in Portugal, to the Luso-Brazilian Games. Or rather, with political sense, determined by the military leadership in the Brazilian Olympic sports, typical of those times. Major Padilha was the "eternal" head of the Brazilian delegation. In Lisbon, a pool with water at 13 degrees temperature, Brazilian swimmers competed against a much weaker team than theirs, the selection of Portugal. The result was a tonsillitis in the biggest star of Brazil, the only Brazilian swimmer until then to go to Olympics with real chances of escaping anonymity. Manoel followed Lisbon, under antibiotic effect, landed and went to the Olympic village to soak for another day, away from the pool. Then would be three more days to recover before the qualifiers of the 100-metre freestyle, the traditional opening race of the Olympic program at that time.

In Rome, the aquatic stadium was impressive, but the tables used to massage were still the traditional table tennis tables. On Friday, August 29, 1960, at 8:30 am, began the swimming with the heats of the men's 100-metre free. Manoel dos Santos, swimming in lane 4, won the third series, with a time of 56.3. It was the third tied best time overall. Twenty-four swimmers passed into the semis. To qualify had to do 58.2. At night, in the semis, Manoel again won, tied in the same third grade in the same lane 4, with the same time 56.3. Overall, now, he ranked fourth draw. The first three positions were for American Lance Larson and Bruce Hunter, and the Australian John Devitt, with the times of 55.5, 55.7 and 55.8, respectively. To qualify for the final was necessary 56.5, the Canadian Richard Pound's time, who, many years later, was to become famous as the sheriff of WADA, the world anti-doping agency.

The next day, Saturday, at 9:10 in the evening, it was time for the final. Manoel dos Santos was cast in the lap 6. He knew that would only have a chance if swam a second faster than the day before. Was given the starting gun, the plateau output of those days, and were almost 40 meters without breathing. Proof of his life. When common sense screamed and he turned to right for the first pull of air, Manoel saw no one. Hunter in lane 5, Larson in 4, and Devitt in 3, were out of the fast first look radar. Certainly were not in front. They could be behind, and it was no small difference. It was bewildering. A few more strokes until Manoel locate the position of the opponents. Meanwhile, much has happened on his head, including the ability to have escaped, size fright that he took. In the crucial seconds of preparation for the turn, turn this more complicated in 1960, due to the requirement of hand touch before somersault and nonexistent glasses, Manuel was somewhat lost and was only find when hit unexpectedly, your forearm on the edge of the pool. Who was there saw Manoel hit right in front in the 50-meter, turn of bumbling way, and came back behind the other competitors. All that was left to him speed up all he had, again. In the line of 80 meters, Manoel had regained the lead. And there it came time to pay the price of unpredictable. Although he maintained that died in the 20 meters remaining, the final difference was two tenths of a second. The gold involved one of the most troubled decisions in the history of Olympic swimming. But Manuel was not in controversy, as his bronze had been clear at the time of 55.4, new South American record.

1960–64

Back in Brazil, Manoel entered the typical period of post-Olympics relaxation. Lost some shape. But in his case, and in that time, talent was worth more than a long cycle training base. Back to the pool, recovery was rapid. The warning came in an unexpected defeat in Brazil. In unlucky pool of Vasco da Gama, the Brazilian Championship, in early 1961, Manoel took silver in the 100-metre freestyle, with a time of 57.8. The winner, a full second in front, was the great swimmer from Paulistano, Athos de Oliveira, who, besides being a good freestyle swimmer, it was the best Brazilian backstroker in the first half of the 60s.

The training again intensify. The motivation was the same as today is part of the routine of the best swimmers, but at that time was a rarity. Manoel was invited to attend a series of international competitions of high level, first in Japan, then accidentally in the United States. Those years were the last in which Japan's reputation in swimming even annually brought the most talented international guests, especially Americans, to participate in the Japanese national championship and other display competitions during the Japanese summer. This tradition came from the 30s, when Japanese and Americans completely dominated the swimming scene.

After a bureaucratic and political exercise with the Brazilian sports directors, which would have its price charged in due time, Manoel went to Japan bringing Hirano. There, he and the Argentine Luis Nicolao, the other guest, joined the American team representing the World "cream of the cream", and left for a tour of three competitions in the Nipponese islands. Nicolao and Manoel, by geographic solidarity, but also for survival pragmatism, were close companions during that stay. As often happens with Brazilian and Hispanic abroad, one saw the other the illusion of being bilingual, when in fact the communication occurs through a third "language", a dragged portunhol. But what no one knew was that there, between the two young Latinos, a little lost in the east and in the shadow of the American and Japanese famous swimmers, was kept hidden half of world speed records in swimming, soon to be revealed to the whole world inside the pool of Guanabara.

Manoel did a great job. In Tokyo, at the Japanese Championship, he took first in the qualifiers, semis and final, with the times of 55.1, 55.2 and 55.3, respectively. The best American sprinter, Steve Clark, and Japanese, Yamanaka, were behind. The 55.1 represented a new South American record. In those days, the approval of records took weeks, and often, they were broken before formalized. It happened in Japan because Manoel also took gold in competitions in Nagoya and Osaka, and in the latter he lowered the South American record another tenth, driven to 55., the best mark in history until then in international competitions. The trip to Japan has Manoel well recognized among American swimmers and technical and specialized sports press. It was the realization that the fury of the first 50 meters in the Rome Olympics was not accidental. Indeed, some people have come to provide a world record if Manoel improve his only weakness, the complicated Olympic turn of those times.

Returning from Japan, by Los Angeles route, Manoel decided to go to Hawaii. Several days later, Manuel, tanned, relaxed and untrained, landed in Los Angeles. Given his recent fame acquired then, he was invited to participate in the American championship in that city and accepted. On August 18, 1961, Steve Clark, successively defeated by Manoel in Japan, won the final of the 100-metre freestyle, in the bustling crowd. His 54.4 time beat the previous world record of 54.6, from Australian John Devitt, since January 1957. Manoel was not at all bad, but ranked fourth, swimming over 55s. Even in the pool, he was photographed shaking Clark, and appeared in the edition of the Swimming World Magazine September 1961. Only between the two, there was a promise, or "friend threat." Manoel categorically stated that on returning to Brazil he would beat that world record. Clark listened and did not dare to doubt, as would reveal in the future. The Brazilian was for some time too near the top of the world, not to believe that this would be possible.

The World Record

On September 21, 1961, in Rio de Janeiro, alone in the swimming pool of Club de Regatas Guanabara, dos Santos set a new world record for the 100-metre freestyle with a time of 53.6 seconds.

Manuel was also the South American champion for eleven years between 1958 and 1969.