This Thursday (30.08), swimming and judo won Brazil's first medals in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The three athletes who made it to the podium are beneficiaries of the Ministry of Sport?s Athlete Grant Programme. From the 182 athletes who went to London, 156 of them are beneficiaries of the federal government?s programme.

Swimmer Daniel Dias won Brazil?s first gold in the 50m freestyle in the S5 category. Breaking the world record, the swimmer has repeated the result on his debut in the last Paralympics and has promised to repeat his performance in 2008.  "To start with a gold medal and world record is really good. Especially as it was Brazil?s first gold", he stated.

Swimming has put on a good performance at the beginning of these Paralympic Games. André Brasil won the silver medal in the 200m medley in the S10 category, repeating his result in the Beijing Games.

The athlete highlighted the ever higher level in swimming at the Paralympics and celebrated the second place in the event, which is not his favourite. "I?m satisfied with this first event. There will be ten days of competition and it was good to break the ice", he said.

In relation to support to Paralympic sport, the swimmer recalled difficulties that amateur sports face in Brazil, but has pointed out that year after year there has been growing investment in the sector on behalf of the government and sponsors. "I was able to train in altitude, spending some time in Manchester where there were around 300 people working with us", he mentioned. "Therefore, I have a lot to thank and hope that we see more investment in sport", he concluded.

Brazil?s first medal was won by Michele Ferreira, who won by WO, as French competitor Sandrine Martinet was injured in the bronze medal fight. Michele repeated her result from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Minister attended
After the opening ceremony party of the London Paralympic Games on Wednesday (29.08), the Minister of Sport Aldo Rebelo watched competitions in two sports this Thursday (30.08). He attended the equestrian event in Greenwich Park and following that, he watched the judo at the Excel Complex.

Aldo Rebelo praised the preparation of athletes for the Games and highlighted the growth of parasport in Brazil. "I think that we'll see an improvement in relation to Beijing, where we finished ninth in the general medal table. The preparation and acclimatisation work done was very good", said the Minister, referring to the training period spent in Manchester.

The Minister also praised the high level of the Brazilian delegation: "We have a lot of experienced athletes in London. Several of them are already Paralympic medallists", he added.