FRATUS Bruno

General
NEW APPROACH
In late-2017 he left his long-time training base at Auburn University in Alabama, United States of America. He moved alongside his wife, Brazilian swimmer and coach Michelle Lenhardt, to Coral Springs, Florida, citing the need to refresh his mind and reaffirm his goals. "After almost four unbelievable years, training and living in Auburn, I decided it was time to shake things up a little bit. I went backwards in 2014 and 2015, and 2016, the year that counted the most, was not very nice. Now I want to do things a little bit different. I do not want to train so much every day, but to have a light preparation in order to have a fresher mind for the next two years." In 2020 he says his wife's support was important. "Michelle was awesome, she was everything I needed. Very few remedies have the effects of love. When you have love in your life, from your wife, your parents, your friends, life becomes a little bit easier. And with that love empathy comes around, and with empathy comes dialogue, and all of those tools help you overcome difficulties in life." (globoesporte.globo.com, 18 Apr 2018; sportv.globo.com, 10 Apr 2018; swimswam.com, 21 Nov 2017; uol.com.br, 03 Jul 2020)

OLYMPIC DISAPPOINTMENT
He contemplated quitting the sport after finishing sixth in the 50m freestyle at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I did not want to see a pool anymore. I thought about getting a normal job." He was affected by depression and in just a few months he gain 12 kilogramme. "I ate more than I should I didn't want to train and not getting out of home." He says that the support he had from his wife Michelle and his then-coach Brett Hawke was important in his decision to continue swimming. "They were Olympic athletes, they knew how I was feeling." He returned to competition in December 2016. (swimchannel.blogosfera.uol.com.br, 01 Jun 2017; uol.com.br, 03 Jul 2020)

RIVALRY WITH CESAR CIELO
He says having had fellow Brazilian swimmer and Olympic champion Cesar Cielo as a rival was one of the best things in his career. "I had the chance to be by the side of an Olympic champion and world record holder at every national championship. That pulls you up to a higher level that no other swimmer could do. I sometimes trained alongside him and I thought it was me who was in that lane, that day, having the chance to train next to the world record holder. There were very few things better that swimming a Brazilian championship alongside Cielo. It was a big competition. You didn't need to spare anything, you had to be much better than everybody to beat that guy." (uol.com.br, 03 Jul 2020)