Today let’s meet Brazilian Fernando Possenti, a wine expert, 12-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist in the open water 10kmAna Marcela Cunha ( Coach Ana Marcela Cunha.
Cunha Cunha won her 12th FINA World Championships medal (and sixth career gold) on Monday in the open water 5km of Lake Lupa. The 30-year-old Brazilian sporting hero has been competing in the highest international competitions for nearly half his life. She is guided most of the time by Posenti, a 43-year-old wine expert and coach. The two were so close that they barely needed words to communicate.
No one knows her better than him. So in Budapest, Posenti generously shared insights into the champion's swimming and life.
First up, a career profile of this tireless marathon swimmer:
Cunha is an Olympic veteran since the age of 16, finishing fifth in the 10km open water race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She began training with Posenti in January 2013 after failing to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. In two years, she won five world championship medals and qualified for the Rio Olympics.
But they split in December 2015, resulting in a disappointing result just when the host nation needed her gold the most - 10th in Rio de Janeiro - this time under another coach.
The two reunited a year later - eight weeks before the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, Cunha was in the top three in every individual event. Last summer in Tokyo, she finally won the Olympic gold medal the open water community thought she deserved.
On land, Cunha was generous and humble, Posenti said. He said:
In Canada, she once stopped a bus full of athletes to get off and helped an old lady cross the road.
In Portugal, swimmers took 50 suits from suppliers, mistakenly thinking they were free, and Cunha knocked on every athlete's door in the hotel and returned 47 of them to an upset seller.
In Japan, she noticed post-game revelers littering the pristine streets with trash, and she stayed to throw every bottle and piece of paper into the trash.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
FINA Correspondent Berg: When did you meet Cunha, and what was your first impression?
Posenti: I met her in 2012. She is very shy. I was training her besties and one day they arrived together - wow. She is already the world champion in 25 kilometers. She has already finished fifth at the Olympics. She said, "I want to reinvent myself." It was really cool because she was willing to change her technique, her strategy, everything. This is the behavior coaches are always looking for in athletes.
In 2013, I had the opportunity to really get to know her as a person. She is amazing and one of my best friends. I spend more time with her than I do with my family, girlfriends, or kids. We have the same values. When we look at each other, we know exactly what the other person is trying to say.
Berg: You didn’t talk on the day of the game?
Posenti: Yes, not much to say. I just said, "Do you have any questions?" One hundred percent sure, she would say, "No questions." But the day before the game, we would spend about an hour talking about strategy, opponents, and if that happens , what is your reaction? How would you react if this happened? This time (on the eve of the 5K) we spent 12 minutes because we said to each other: I know what you’re thinking. We don't need an hour.
Berg: In addition to her 12 world championship medals and Olympic gold, FINA has named her the world's best female marathon swimmer seven times in the past 10 years. How has she managed to stay on top of this scene for so long?
Posenti: two parts. One, I change my plans every year. People ask: Why do you want to change, change, change? I hear a lot of team managers say, 'This team is winning, so don't change anything; if we do the same thing, we're going to get the same results. This is a really big mistake. We don't believe this. I want to test it every year and give her the impression that we are constantly improving. One thing is for sure, we won’t have the same altitude training camp or the exact same race again next year.
The second part comes from her desire for big goals. In 2013, I said, "If we were to work together again, I want to win three medals at worlds." She loved it. She always likes to aim high.
Berg: What goals are left?
Posenti: She has won the most medals at the World Cup, five FINA World Cup overall titles, and so on and so forth. But have you ever won a 10K race? Not yet. [That game is Wednesday. ] After Tokyo, I asked her, ‘What do you want to get out of the next cycle? Stop becoming an Olympic champion? She said, 'No one has ever won two gold medals in two Olympics in open water, so why not?' I said, 'Okay. Let's go to the pool. Let's do it again.'
Berger: She Never compete the same way twice, is that true?
Posenti: Yeah I know what they like, how they swim, what arm they are in. Stronger, so I know how to push them to do what we want them to do [but also, it's important that Cunha doesn't become predictable] so the way she swims is always different.
Berger: What types of things did you do?
Posenti: It’s not just the speed you achieve, It's also about how much energy you put into reaching that speed. In Zone A-2 (Aerobic-2), you can do it at a comfortable speed last year. A little bit. This year with a higher stroke rate, people said to me: she's going to get tired earlier or she's going to use more energy. That's not true. Speed without exerting too much muscle power.Berg: What is her greatest characteristic as an athlete?
Posenti: Her mind is incredible. Weapons. Doing a 25km race at 30 years old? [If she wins her fourth consecutive 25km world title here], will she win that race mentally because we don't train for that. , because it's an Olympic distance. She's won 25 races with her brains and her mentality since she started training with me.
Berg: Not only does she race a lot, but her travel schedule is crazy. She traveled across continents to win a race and competed a day or two later. When was the most tired time you've ever seen her? After the kilometer race. But emotionally, now, after the Olympics, I think we'll go through each cycle more easily. We’re not going to play every game.We have been away from home for two months. I'm really tired. I miss my kids. She misses her girlfriend. This is crazy. Why do we do this?
Berger: Do you think Cunha will be a good coach?
Posenti: She can if she wants to. She has graduated from the Sports University in Brazil. I think she would be a great coach. She asked me about everything: Why am I doing this? Why this set? Which aerobic zone is suitable? what's your plan? I want to give Anna my chronograph after Paris and say, "It's your turn." And then I'll be like, I don't know, working Monday to Friday at the Union and spending time with my girls . They really need me. They will be teenagers.
