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Brazilian president lauds athletes' performance in Beijing
Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-26 10:37
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was satisfied with Brazilian athletes' performance at the Beijing Olympics, in which they collected three gold, four silver and eight bronze medals.
"Brazil's competition result was nice," Lula said in his weekly radio program "Breakfast with the President", "Obviously, as Brazilians, we want as many gold medals as possible, and fortunately Brazil has unprecedentedly won in some sports in Beijing."
He praised the performances of Maurren Maggi winning the gold medal in women long-jump, Brazil's women volleyball team winning their first Olympic gold medal, and swimmer Cesar Cielo winning gold medal in the 50 meters freestyle, which is the first gold in Brazil's history of swimming Lula also said Brazil's biggest frustration was not having won the gold medal in football game. He criticized the performance of the men's football team, who was defeated by Argentina in the semifinal.
He said he was deeply sorry for the loss of the country's women football team to the U.S. in the final match, but he still considered the players to be heroines.
Lula noted that he felt regretted about the missed opportunities in the gymnastics competition, "We were sad some women gymnasts did not perform as well as expected".
Lula said it is necessary to put more private and governmental investment in sports for improving Brazilian athletes' performance. He also showed his confidence of Rio's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.