Thiago Jacinto Carayba Dias in Debrecen 2001 (© Getty Images)
Five Brazilian athletesthree men and two women - have been pre-selected by their team officials to compete in the forthcoming World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada.
Rafael da Silva Ribeiro (born on 23/06/1986, 100m), Nilson de Oliveira André (born on 30/01/1986, 100m) and Júlio César Miranda de Oliveira (born on 04/02/1986, Javelin/Discus) among the men have already achieved the qualifying standards. Just like Franciela das Graças Krasucki (born on 26/04/1988, 100m) and Jailma Sales de Lima (born on 31/12/1986, High Jump) so far the only women athletes in the team.
Brazil could well send more than just the above mentioned athletes to Sherbrooke as their National Youth Championships take place this weekend 21 and 22 June in Sao Caetano do Sul. All athletes achieving the requested marks should therefore be added to the team.
The best chance of a medal for Brazil will be Júlio César Miranda de Oliveira who has broken the national javelin record on 15 February this year with an excellent mark of 76.68m. For reference, Teemu Wirkkala (FIN) won the javelin gold medal in Debrecen two years ago with a best throw of 76.18m.
De Oliveira was born in Paranavai, in the Region of Parana but now lives in Caetano do Sul. He won the senior national title at Javelin and also reached Sherbrooke qualification mark in the Discus Throw with a personal record of 56.08m.
Brazil has won only one medal in the history of the IAAF World Youth Championships and what a win it was. Those who were present in Debrecen 2001 certainly haven’t forgotten Thiago Jacinto Carayba Dias’ tears.
Dias was in the lead after his 7.61m second effort but Abdulla Al-Walid (QAT) – who would take the World Junior title a year later in Kingston – jumped just one centimetre further in his fifth round.
Dias didn’t panic and put together the best effort of the championships and landed at a new personal best distance of 7.72m.
