The Brazilian Ice Sports Federation will send ten athletes to Lake Placid for training and competition this month. Brazil will be represented in the sport of Bobsleigh with two 2-man teams and one 4-man team as well as a women's team. Seasoned Skeleton athlete, Emilio Strapasson has his eye on being the first Brazilian to ever qualify for an Olympics in the sport. Emilio was just one position shy of realizing that goal in 2006.Bobsleigh pilots Edson Bindilatti, Marcio Silva and Fabiana Santos will hone skills at the challenging Lake Placid track during a sliding school March 23-29, 2009 follwed by America's Cup competitions March 30- April 4, 2009.
"First of all the athletes are focusing on the good training they'll receive at the school," Brazilian Ice Sports Federation president Eric Maleson said, "Then they want to qualify for the America's Cup and score some points for what really matters the most which is next season. It's also about measuring ourselves against our competition - against the teams we'll need to beat next season in order to qualify for Vancouver. Teams like Korea, Mexico, Australia and Jamaica - that's who we'll be sizing up."
Brazil was the first South American nation to qualify a bobsled team for the Olympics. A 4-man team competed in Salt Lake City 2002 and again in Torino 2006.
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