The title won by Arthur Zanetti, beneficiary of the Athlete Grant Programme of the Ministry of Sport may open doors for the sport in Brazil.  This is what the gymnast thinks, who won the gold medal in artistic gymnastic in the rings event in the London Olympic Games.

"I believe that this medal will open a lot of doors because, in addition to helping high performance sport, we will also help junior level sport to increase the number of apparatus at clubs in cities and gymnasiums, focusing on that level. Gymnastics has a lot of athletes and if a more solid structure is supplied, the number of people practicing it may increase", said Zanetti at a press conference at Casa Brasil this Tuesday (07.08), in London.

The Olympic gold medal won by the grant holder was the result of a lot of work, which started in 2007, when Zanetti, only seventeen at the time, competed in the world championship for the first time. "This victory is not something that came overnight. It is the result of the work I've been doing since 2007, on a competition per competition basis. In order to make it to the world championship, finishing in second place and winning the Olympic gold medal, I really did a lot of work", recalled the athlete. 

The rings are at a height of 2.75 metres from the floor. It is the apparatus that requires the most strength in artistic gymnastic. In order to see off the challenge of the Chinese competitor, Zanetti risked everything and increased the level of difficulty of the routine. It worked. "My first goal was to reach the final. Then, the goal was to do as best as I could, regardless of where I placed. I am very happy to have won the medal. I came here to do the best I could and that?s what I?ve done. I am very happy", stated the gymnast, while highlighting that in high performance competitions, there are no favourites.
 
For him, the financial help from the federal government, supplied through the Athlete Grant Programme is a great incentive for athletes to be able to focus on their training. About the 2016 Olympic Games, Zanetti anticipated that he is going to use the same strategy. "The goal for the Rio de Janeiro Games is to take a full gymnastics team. With more athletes, the chances of getting to the finals and winning medals increase. In turn, my strategy will be the same: to do my best and the medal will only be a consequence of the work done", he added.