Djan Madruga

Djan Garrido Madruga (born 7 December 1958 in Rio de Janeiro ) is a former international freestyle swimmer and former South American record-holder from Brazil.

His younger brother Roger Madruga, was also a professional swimmer.

At 6 years of age, Djan Madruga usually played on Copacabana Beach with a friend.

As a result of him nearly drowning, his father Dirceu Madruga enrolled him in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) swimming school at Urca.

He wanted his son to be able to play in the water safely, but soon Djan Madruga's instructor realized that the boy had a gift for swimming and recommended him for the Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas team.

In the petiz category, he improved his technique in all styles, particularly in the backstroke, where he won his first medals.

However, by 11 years, Djan had become discouraged as his opponents had out-grown him, and the following year was frustrated when he lost a poll for the South American Championship.

Djan decided to change clubs, and joined the Fluminense FC where he began to work with a new swimming coach.

Under the guidance of Denir de Freitas, Djan now loved to train and a period of impressive developments began, when they concentrated on distance events.

Firstly, Djan Madruga's father had been an engineer in Petrobras, before the Brazilian military coup of 1964.

Afterwards he was forced to take a job as a taxi driver making it difficult to provide for his family and to purchase exercise equipment.

He had to send his children to a public school.

Secondly, the logistics of everyday life in Rio de Janeiro made it difficult for Djan to travel to his swimming club and college.

Precious time was wasted which should have been spent training, studying or resting.

Thirdly, Djan was training alone at Fluminense, but in the U.S., he would train with colleagues at the highest level, and with a leading coach who was at the forefront of knowledge in biomechanics and physiology.

And finally, studying at an American university would open up many more possibilities for Djan's working life, after his athletics career.

He chose Indiana University, studying physical education and training with Doc Counsilman, Mark Spitz's coach.

In 1973, at the age of 15 he won a place in the Brazil squad that competed in the South American Championships, in Medellin, Colombia and the following year he competed in both the Canadian Championship and the U.S. Open, in California.

The structure, scale and technical levels were a surprise to Djan Madruga, and he returned to Brazil determined to work hard to come back, and win.

In 1975, while competing in the III Latin Swimming Cup, at Las Palmas, Spain, he did a time of 15:56.20, becoming the first South American to swim the 1500-metre freestyle under 16 minutes.

He also qualified for participation in the Montreal Olympics.

The same year he competed at the 1975 World Aquatics Championships in Cali.

In the 1500-metre freestyle, he led the race up to 1000 meters, but then got tired and lost power, finishing 11th.

Djan did a time of 16:30.77, far from his South American record of 15:56.02.

The head of the Brazilian delegation, Rubens Dinard, said Djan had "too much responsibility for being written in only one test, and by the time of inscription he had. Moreover, the Brazilians had problems with the training conducted in winter, where the most cooled down, unable to train normally".

Djan also competed at the 1975 Pan American Games, in Mexico City, where he won the bronze medal in the 400-metre, 1500-metre and 4×200-metre freestyle, finishing 4th in the 200-metre freestyle race.

At the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics, Djan Madruga competed in two finals, finishing in 4th place in the 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:57.18 and in the 1500-metre freestyle where his time was 15:19.84.

During the competition before the finals, he became the first Brazilian to beat an Olympic record in swimming, and the first in the World to swim the 400-metre freestyle in the Olympics, under 4 minutes, when he swam his 400-metre freestyle qualifying heats in 3:59.62.

He was to break the South American record in the 400-metre freestyle twice; in the heats, and in the finals, while in the 1500-metre freestyle, Djan Madruga improved his best time by 36 seconds.

As a result of his Olympics successes, Djan received several offers of scholarships to universities, in the United States of America.

These represented a spectacular opportunity for a number of reasons.

Djan Madruga went to Mission Viejo in 1977, to train with the renowned U.S. swimming coach, Mark Schubert, where he shared the pool with the Olympic champion and record holder Brian Goodell.

The following year he participated at the 1978 World Aquatics Championships in West Berlin, where he won 6th place in his heat of the 1500-metre freestyle race, but failed to finish in the final, also failing to qualify for the final of the 400-metre freestyle.

These poor performances, were due to Djan contracting Pharyngitis at Bordeaux, France, just before the World Championships.

On their way to Berlin, the Brazilian swim team made this stopover to train with the French national team, and to adapt to the new time zone.

In 1979, he successfully competed in the Pan American Games in San Juan, where he won three silver medals; in the 400-metre, the 1500-metre, and the 4×200-metre freestyle.

He also won three bronze medals; in the 200-metre freestyle, the 200-metre backstroke, and the 4×100-metre freestyle.

He was beaten in the 400-metre and 1500-metre freestyle races, by the world record holder Brian Goodell.

However, in both the 200-metre freestyle and in the relays, he broke the South American records.

He also competed at the 1979 Summer Universiade, in Mexico City, where he won the gold medal in the 400-metre individual medley, and the silver medal in the 200-metre backstroke.