Brazil’s swimming federation has confirmed it will run the three more major national championship events of 2016, despite the federation suspending its finances amidst some turmoil.
The CBDA, which governs all aquatic sports in Brazil, had four top officials including President Coaracy Nunes suspended over alleged fraud and embezzlement within the federation. In response, the federation said that the surrounding investigation and the suspension would mean the federation couldn’t draw from its accounts, and that the CBDA would be forced to suspend all salaries and all national championship events.
But Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry responded last week, saying it was “unreasonable” for the federation to try to hold the ministry responsible for suspending its payments and threatening the hosting of major meets. The public ministry also responded to a number of accusations the CBDA had made claiming the investigation hadn’t given the federation a chance to explain the alleged problems with its books.
The 2016 short course national meet (the Jose Finkel Trophy) had already taken place, but the nation still had a handful of major events left. And late last week, the federation announced in a press release that it would still be holding the last three major national meets for the year. That list includes the Brazil Open in late November, the Brazil Youth Championships spanning from the end of November to early December and the Brazil Children’s Championships in December.
BestSwim.br has the full press release in its original Portuguese. The federation confirms all three events and says it will “assume the costs of the event” (in a rough translation) and will be able to receive entry fees from clubs. The meets are on the following dates:
- Brazil Open (Prof Daltely Guimarães Trophy) – Nov 23-26
- Youth Championships – Nov 30-Dec 3
- Children’s Championships – Dec 7-10
In addition, BestSwim.br reports that the CBDA has announced its selection meets for a handful of major international events for both junior and senior swimmers. The CBDA will use the Brazil Open and the Maria Lenk Trophy (which takes place in April) to select for the 2017 World Championships and 2017 Junior World Championships. Meanwhile for juniors, the federation will use the Brazilian Junior Championships (from last month) along with the Youth and Children’s Championships to select teams for three international youth events in April of 2017.
Anyone know if Cielo retired for good?