Olympic dreams drowned in devastating Brazilian floods

When the entries came out for the Final Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Evaldo Becker and Piedro Tuchtenhagen’s names were listed. The duo were set to compete for Brazil in the lightweight men’s double sculls in the hope of securing a place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

But when the regatta gets underway on Sunday, Becker and Tuchtenhagen will not be there. Instead, they have chosen to stay in Brazil as part of the relief efforts in the wake of the flooding which has devastated their home region of Rio Grande do Sul in the last weeks.

The state has been inundated by torrential rain since the end of April; more than half a million people are displaced and 147, at last count, had lost their lives.

The disaster has also impacted the local rowing community. Becker and Tuchtenhagen were deep into the final stages of their preparation for Lucerne, but were directly affected when the floods hit their training base at the Grêmio Náutico União (GNU) club in the state capital of Porto Alegre.

“Our training centre was greatly affected, we lost our boat, oars and several other pieces of essential equipment for our preparation and in light of this our focus changed, it became on helping the Gaúcho people, our people,” explains Tuchtenhagen.

Rowing clubs across the state have been badly affected by the floods, with many flooded to the ceilings, making it hard to assess damage and access boats at all. Despite this, GNU, a multisport club, has also sheltered those displaced from their homes and become a centre for donations locally.

Tuchtenhagen and Becker made a quick decision to pull out of Lucerne, just a few days before they were due to fly.

“We really became aware of the size of the catastrophe we were facing here in Rio Grande do Sul, seeing thousands of homeless families, people being rescued amid floods, children, friends, family members, all suffering a lot. It was at that moment that we decided to stay to help,” Tuchtenhagen says.

The pair, along with eight other rowers, are working non-stop to help the relief efforts – even though some of them have lost everything in the flooding.

“We’re rescuing victims, animals, helping homeless families and with the logistics of donations,” says Becker. “It is very painful and sad to see our family and friends go through this, people completely losing everything they had, this flood devastated our entire state, taking dreams, plans and lives.

“The flood also took away our dream, our expectations and hopes. It was difficult to decide, but we are at peace with our decision and focused on helping and serving our people,” he says.

Paris 2024 is set to be the last time that the lightweight double features on an Olympic programme, making the decision even more difficult. According to Tuchtenhagen and Becker, that means they have made no future plans at this point.

“It will still take time for everything to return to normal here, we don’t know when we will return to normality. At the moment our only hope is that everything will return to normal,” Tuchtenhagen says.

Photos thanks to Satiro Sodré / CBR