Aug. 1, 2016
By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - As much as former Auburn swimmer Marcelo Chierighini would love to take part in Friday's Olympic Opening Ceremony in his home country, he knows it would be unwise.
"It would be a great thing to do, but Opening Ceremony will be the night before I race," he said. "And you walk for three or four hours, it just kills your legs, so I prefer to be in my bed, resting for the next morning."
Chierighini, a 2014 Auburn graduate and the SEC's male swimmer of the year in 2013, will swim in the 100-meter freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay for Brazil.
"This is something I think I've learned from Auburn, competing in NCAAs and being proud of representing a team, especially swimming relays and having all of your teammates together, swimming together," said Chierighini, who helped Auburn's 400 free relay team win the NCAA championship in '14.
"This whole team thing grew on me since my freshman year, and now I have the opportunity to represent Brazil, my home country. It's almost, you can't even explain that. I'm very, very proud," he said.
After his sophomore season at Auburn, Chierighini swam in the 2012 London Olympics, narrowly missing the final in the 400 free relay.
"London was more first experience. Everything new," he said. "There were a lot of distractions going on. So now I know everything that I need and have to do to be able to perform at my best."
Chierighini also received valuable experience earlier this year at the Olympic Aquatic Stadium in Rio.
"We competed at the pool back in April at our trials," he said. "So we already know what the pool is like, and what the entire facility is like. I guess we have a little bit of an advantage on that."
To accomplish his goal of medaling, Chierighini must first be one of eight swimmers to reach the final. In his estimation, there are 10 elite sprinters in the world, so two will be left out.
"They're all so good in big meets," he said. "Obviously, it's very hard to make the final. I include myself as one of those top sprinters. We're all aware of how fast your competitors are swimming. You keep an eye on that, but you don't obsess. Just checking the times to see if your best will make it to the finals."
Second Olympics. Home country. A comfort level that comes with having his Auburn coach, Brett Hawke, serving as Brazil's Olympic coach. There are a lot of reasons to like Chierighini's chances of making it to the podium.
"I'm very confident. I've never had a season so good before," he said. "My times in season were never that good before. I'm training better than ever. I'm pretty confident that I can go there and do my personal best time, and hopefully that will be enough to medal. We're used to pressure and those tough moments. We're ready to go there and kill it."
"Very, very proud." - former @AuburnSwimDive @Mchierighini to swim for host country in Brazil Olympics.#AUinRio pic.twitter.com/JVR4xDYQZu
- Jeff Shearer (@jeff_shearer) August 1, 2016
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer