Today, I learned about:
For the first time ever, a Brazilian wins a World Cup event in alpine skiing. It was Lucas Braathen who made the feat in the season’s first competition in Levi, Finland. Here are two images from the exciting turnout:
More about Lucas can be found in my blog post 2024-03-31
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
Today, I learned about:
My ongoing relation with CBDN, the Brazilian Confederation for Snowsports, has added another, impressive chapter. Earlier posts about CBDN can be found on 240’2022 (2022-08-28), 304’2022 (2022-10-31) , 334’2022 (2022-11-30) , 31’2023 (2023-01-31) , 272’2023 (2023-09-29), and 91’2024 (2024-03-31) .
On 146’2025 (2025-05-26), I was invited to a ceremony to mark the conclusion of the 2024/25 winter sport season. It was held in São Paulo at MIS, the museum for image and sound. The whole event was very well organized, with both an initial cocktail with delicious salty and sweet snacks and a bigger buffet during the half-time break.
It was really interesting to see the enthuiasm of so many talented athletes, both those with normal body conditions and those who participate in the para athletic disciplines. And the ceremony, which meant to reward the best of those, was also very well planned and executed, with a ceremony master, Beth Romero, who is a well-known sports journalist. A video from the ceremony can be found in reference #1 below, and here are also some photos:
Another highlight this month is related to my student of the Swedish language, Gabriel Bertho. I teach him Swedish so he can communicate well with his fellow colleagues at Linköping University of Technology. Gabriel, who is a technology student at UFSCar, the Federal University of São Carlos, spent four months in Sweden in 2024 on a robotics project. The result of that project was presented by him at the 1st Brazilian Conference on Robotics in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil during the last three days of April, 2025. Here are two pictures of Gabriel and his presentation at the conference:
Finally, this month’s header photo was taken by another of my Swedish language students, Laura Ponce, who currently lives in Greifswald, Germany, where she took this springlike photo on 121’2025 (2025-05-01).
Thank you, Laura! More about Greifswald can be found in reference #2 below.
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
1: Cerimônia de encerramento da temporada 2024/2025
2: Greifswald
*: What did you learn in school today?
Today, I learned about:
What I wrote yesterday in my updated blog needs yet another update today.
The reason is that the Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis has made it again. My latest post about him was in April, when he had just set yet another world record, 6,24 m, see 121’2024 (2024-04-30). And today, he raised that mark to an even higher level, 6,25 m, when he won the gold medal in the Paris Olympics 2024. Here is a picture of the exact moment when he surpasses the bar:
Armand and Sarah Sjöström were recently elected to be this years’s Swede of the Year by the organization Svenskar i världen (Swedes in the world) for their incredible performance over the years. How assertive they were when choosing this couple in an olympic year such as 2024. See also reference #1 below.
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
1: Armand Duplantis och Sarah Sjöström utses till Årets Svensk i Världen 2024
*: What did you learn in school today?
Today, I learned about:
During the ongoing Summer Olympics in Paris, the fabulous Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjöström once more showed why she, still active, is already considered a legend in the history of swimming. She first became known to the general public in 2008, when she was 14 years old and won the European Championship (for adults) in 100 m butterfly. Maybe you remember that she won the same distance also at the Summer Olympic in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and, although still recovering from a broken elbow, also managed to win a silver medal in 50 m freestyle at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.
And now she has done it again! In Paris, her main goal was to compete in and hopefully win the 50 m freestyle. But since there are a couple of days between the freestyle events of 100 m and 50 m, she decided to also venture into the 100 m event. That final was held today and, of course, Sarah won! Let’s see what 50 m freestyle has in store for us!
Read more about Sarah in reference # 1 below, and also in my earlier posts, 241’2016 (2016-08-28) and 271’2021 (2021-09-28).
Update on 217’2024 (2024-08-04)
As I already anticipated above, Sarah Sjöström won her favorite distance, 50 m freestyle, easily. In the semifinal yesterday, she swam on 23,66 s, only 0,05 s slower than her own world record, 23,61 s from 2023. Today, it was yet another 0,05 s slower, but her result, 23,71 s, was well ahead of all the competitors. Double gold medal to Sarah in the Paris Olympics!
And also today, the Swedish table tennis player Truls Möregård tried his best to win the gold medal, but the Chinese player Fan Zhendong exhibited once more the Chinese superiority in this sport, in a final that really captured the audience. At the end of the fifth game, when Fan was close to conclude his victory, Truls pulled a very nice trick. He saved the ball when it almost hit the ground, returned it in such a way that it bounced on the Chinese half of the table and came back towards Truls’ side, impossible for Fan to reach it. Here are screenshots from the exact moments when Truls picks up the ball and when it is returning to the Swedish side. In reference #2 below, you can find the complete video capture of the feat.
Today’s header photo of the port of Santorini was taken on 194’2024 (2024-07-12) by my friend Anne Clementino during a visit to this Greek island, also named Thira by the locals. It is located in the South Aegean sea and is a very popular turist destination. Besides enjoying the outstanding weather conditions of the Mediterranean sea, they also go there for the Greek hospitality and the famous Greek cuisine. Thank you, Anne, for this marvellous view!
More about Santorini and its explosive past can be found in reference # 3 below.
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
3: Santorini
*: What did you learn in school today?
Today, I learned about:
This month there will be interesting updates to earlier blog posts. In the previous post, 91’2024 (2024-03-31), I wrote about the fantastic pole vaulter, Armand Duplantis. In the first Diamond League competition for 2024, on 111’2024 (2024-04-20) in Xiamen, China, he continued his routine of raising the world record with yet another centimeter, to 6,24 m. The photo below shows that remarkable event. See the jump in reference #1 below.
And also in last month’s post, I wrote about how Lucas Braathen now will use his alpine skills to try and bring an Olympic medal also to Brazil. But he may have to fight for it with another skier who also is changing the country for which he competes. I am talking about Marcel Hirscher, who already had won various Olympic and World Championship medals for Austria before retiring in 2019. Now, he intends to return to challenge Lucas and others, but this time competing for the Netherlands. His mother is Dutch and now he also has acquired that citizenship. More about Marcel Hirscher can be found in reference #2 below.
Finally, in my posts about modularity, I only mentioned hardware and software items, but what about the necessary documentation, can it also be modular? Yes, it can, next month I will explain how!
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
Today, I learned about:
In my previous post, I talked about the small differences in sport between success and failure. Here are two more such events, both of them involving Swedish athletes:
Swimming men 400 m individual medley in Summer Olympic Games 1972
An earlier such fact happened in the Summer Olympics Games in Munich on August 30, 1972. In the final of the 400 m individual medley for men, the two first swimmers were registered for the same time, 4 min 31,98 s. So far using hundredths of a second had been sufficient to decide a winner, but in this case the organizers had to go further down, to the thousandths of a second, and then it was discovered that the Swede Gunnar Larsson had the time of 4 min 31,981 s, while his major opponent, the American swimmer Tim McKee was recorded for 4 min 31,983 s, 2 thousandths of a second slower, or converted into distance 3 mm. Of course there were many people who wanted the goal medal to be shared between the two swimmers, but the decision was to keep them apart. I remember very well this event, I was at home watching the event live on TV and how everyone was apprehensive about the outcome.
Thousandth second timing was also used at the 1973 World Championships, but this would not be allowed again, as it was shown that this was less than the thickness of one coat of paint on the wall, and minute differences in the lanes could affect this result. All future international swimming races after 1973 would be decided only to the 1/100th of a second, and if swimmers were tied at that margin, they were declared tied. However, that decision did not have any retroactive result, so Gunnar Larsson continued as a sole winner in 1972. But Tim McKee could at least console himself that both he and Gunnar were registered as having broken the old olympic record.
Since then, there have been three different olympic events where the two first swimmers have shared the gold medal, all in freestyle swimming, in 1984, 2000, and 2016. Will there be anext one in 2032?
See also reference #1 below.
Triathlon women individual event in Summer Olympic Games 2012
Another similar event happened in the Summer Olympics Games in London on August 4, 2012. It was hosted in Hyde Park, and the first three athletes were all within 2 seconds at the finish line. Of those, the two first competitors ended up with the same time, 1 h 59 min 48 s. But the Swiss athlete Nicola Spirig was judged as being the winner in a photo finish, with the same time as the Swede Lisa Nordén. The Swedish Olympic Committee appealed against the result in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but it turned down the appeal.
See also reference #2 below.
Winter sports in Brazil
You may remember that a little over a year ago, in my post 240’2022 (2022-08-28) , I wrote about the two Brazilian winter sports organizations, CBDG (ice) and CBDN (snow), and presented the Arena Ice. Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the Arena Ice again, this time together with my fellow associates of Swedcham, the Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo, and practice some curling under the supervision of one of the curling instructors at CBDG, Fabrício Dias Paes. We all had very much fun in trying to master the 20 kg heavy curling stone and guide it to its goal. Here you can see some photos taken by Anders Pettersson and myself:
Then on the following weekend, from my home in São Carlos, I could watch two very different sports events happening at the same time in the region of Morumbi in São Paulo, to the left the final in the Brazilian Championship in Icehockey 3×3, held at the rink in Arena Ice, and to the right the final in the Brazilian Football Cup, occurring only 4 kilometers from Arena Ice. Unfortunately, the home team Big Hockey Brazil lost the final 3-4 to the Falcons from Bragança Paulista, but São Paulo FC compensated that by securing the Brazilian Football Cup with a draw 1-1 against the Rio team Flamengo, after having won the first game in Rio de Janeiro one week before.
By the way, during this weekend, there is also a Brazilian Championship in Curling for Mixed couples being played in Arena Ice. If you want to accompany it live, you can do so on this link: https://youtube.com/live/laEfuz7FYMU
Finally, today’s header photo was taken in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires by my daughter Karina on 250’2023 (2023-09-07). This metallic rose opens its petals during the day and is called Floralis Genérica. See also reference # 3 below.
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
Today, I learned about:
As I promised you in my post of 304’2022 (2022-10-31) , here is the beginning of my story about how Brazil is investing in bringing up a generation of skiers that hopefully one day will be able to compete on an elite level around the world.
To start with, the house you see in today’s header has a sign saying NEBAR, it is an abbreviation in Portuguese for the attribute Núcleo de Esportes de Base e Alto Rendimento, which means Nucleus for Basic and Highly Productive Sports in English. It is a joint project between the Special Secretary for Sports of the Federal Government’s Ministry for Citizenship, the Department of Physical Education and Human Motricity at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), and CBDN. See also reference 1 below.
Here are some more pictures that I took while visiting the NEBAR team:
During 2023, I will follow the NEBAR team and report more on their activities.
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
1: NEBAR
Today, I learned about:
As you read in my post of 240’2022 (2022-08-28) , although Brazil does not have the natural conditions to be a country involved in winter sports, there are two Brazilian confederations, CBDG (sports on ice) and CBDN (sports on snow). For the former part, there is of course the possibility of building an ice arena, which you also saw in that post. But what do you do to create good conditions to practice on snow in a country with mainly tropical and sub-tropical climate?
CBDN has found a way! There is another sport which mimics cross country skiing, but without snow. It is called roller skiing, for details see reference #1 below.
I had the pleasure of attending a roller skiing competition in São Carlos, SP, Brazil two weeks ago. The following photo shows me testing the winners’ podium, and yes if it could hold me, then the athletes would have no problems to be receiving their well-earned medals.
Here you can see two pictures from the competition on 287’2022 (2022-10-14), when the topic was a 1,4 km sprint with qualifications, semi-finals and finals, as well as the top trio in both the women’s and the men’s competition. Reference # 2 below gives all the details about the competition.
Next month, I will give more details about the roller skiing organization within CBDN.
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
Today, I learned about:
I recently moved 650 km (400 miles) from the state of Paraná to the state of São Paulo, making this the first post from my new location in São Carlos. And it also means that I am now sufficiently close to the city of São Paulo to go there, meet old friends and experience exciting things on a regular basis.
And since there is no time to get wasted, I just came back home from such a trip to São Paulo over the last, extended weekend, and do I have interesting things to report:
Brazilian winter sports
With its warm, mostly tropical climate, Brazil is of course not the most natural place to practice what many people call winter sports, which typically use snow or ice as the setting. But that does not mean that Brazilians are abstaining themselves from winter sports. Between Saturday 246’2022 (2022-09-03) and Saturday 253’2022 (2022-09-10) the Brazilian Open will be held in alpine skiing and snowboard. But the lack of sufficient amount of snow in Brazil makes it necessary to organize it in Corralco, Chile. The responsibility for the event lies with CBDN (Confederação Brasileira de Desportos na Neve), i.e. the Brazilian Confederation for Sports on Snow. More about CBDN and their activities can be found in reference #1 below.
Furthermore, there is also CBDG (Confederação Brasileira de Desportos no Gelo), i.e. the Brazilian Confederation for Sports on Ice, reference #2 below. Last Thursday, on 237’22 (2022-08-25), I had the pleasure of meeting with the Presidents of CBDG, Matheus Figueiredo, and CBDN, Anders Pettersson, in the CBDG headquarters in Brazil, the so called Arena Ice. Besides an iceskating rink for figure skating and 3×3 ice hockey, the arena hosts three official sized ice sheets for curling, sometimes thought of as chess on ice. If you do not know what curling is, then I suggest you take a look at my earlier posts in the matter, such as 83’2018 (2018-03-24), 124’2018 (2018-05-24), and 91’2019 (2019-04-01) .
The following photo gives you a view of the curling ice sheets, and furthermore, below are also two more photos taken during my visit to Arena Ice:
Swedcham Friday Fika
Then on Friday, 238’22 (2022-08-26), I went to the Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (Swedcham) to assist an interview in the series that they call Friday Fika, in which the executive director of Swedcham, Jonas Lindström, has held many interesting interviews with people of various trades. It used to be exclusively online, but since the Covid pandemic is showing strong signs to decay, before this event they had already experienced the first interview IRL, combined with online transmisson for those who for some reason could not go there in person. Reference #3 gives all the details, with links to the various events, hosted on Youtube.
The interviewee this time was Christopher Podgorski, CEO of Scania Latin America, a business leader known for his way of leading and incentivating people to work together in order to reach the business goals. In reference #4 is a direct link to the interview.
Below are some photos I took of the event:
In my next post I hope to be able to show you the pictures taken in Ouro Preto during my visit there in May 2022.
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
1: CBDN
2: CBDG
3: Friday Fika
Today, I learned about:
The World Athletics Championships, held in Eugene, OR, USA, just ended last Sunday after 10 interesting days full of exciting competitions. And as a Swede, once more I had to admit that “Patience is a virtue”. After two bronze medals in the race walk 20 km and 35 km by Perseus Karlström, we had to wait to the final competition, the male pole vault, to see a Swede (albeit dual American and Swedish citizen), Armand Duplantis, finish on top of the podium. And what a fantastic result, 6,21 m, new world record! As you can see from the screenshots below, if the bar had been placed on 6,29 m, in principle he would have made it at that height, as well!
And there was another thing, that few people noticed, that also made me very content. You may remember that in my post of 212’2021 (2021-07-31) , I complained about the distorted names for all competitors who did not conform to the basic ASCII code, but had their names made almost illegible. Well, the organizers of the World Athletics Championships must have read that post, because they made a fantastic job in writing all names the way nature created them. As you can see below, the aformementioned medallist, race walker Perseus Karlström, finally obtained what he deserves.
But there was one, tiny detail that failed in that context. The German heptathlon athlete Sophie Weißenberg got a dual personality!
And, finally, here are some pictures from my tour in Minas Gerais. All of them below are from the town of Tiradentes.
And one more thing, I took today’s header photo, an ordinary street view with an extraordinary sunset, yesterday 211’2022 (2022-07-30) in Paranavaí, PR, Brazil:
That’s what I learned in school today!
Ref.:
1: World Athletics Championships 2022
2: Tiradentes
What did you learn in School today? 