Bruno Fratus found a glimpse of normalcy this week when he was permitted to return to his training pool in Coral Springs, Florida.
Earlier this week, the state of Florida saw some hope when the state entered Phase One of post-coronavirus life. Restaurants were opening up at 50% capacity, beaches were starting to open up, and recreation centers were allowing patrons to use their facilities. In Coral Springs, the aquatic center was open up to the public for lap swim with strict limitations. Each party is limited to only an hour of swimming and no more than 20 people can be in the pool at a time. Reservations to swim must be made by appointment, and spots filled up quick, since it is one of the few pools in the area to open up.
For Brazilian Olympic finalist and World Championships medalist Bruno Fratus, he was able to finally get back in his main training pool in Coral Springs on Monday, even if for a limited amount of time.
“They’re re-sanitizing the whole place every hour for 30 minutes,” Fratus told Swimming World. “There’s a lot of limitations regarding the space you can use and the time you can be in that space so it’s not like we are back in full power and full training. There’s still a lot we need to adapt at least for the next two weeks.”
But even with limitations in place, it was much better than swimming in a backyard pool.
“Just to be able to be back in the pool, it is already something,” Bruno Fratus said. “The level of specificity of a swimmer is something that I don’t know if you’re going to find in any other sport so it is really important that we have this contact with water in an actual swimming pool. Backyard pools can only do so much so if you can get in an actual swimming pool that is very helpful.”
Bruno Fratus had been swimming in a backyard pool at a friend’s house nearby, in order to just maintain his feel for the water. Quarantine had been difficult for him, like it has been for every athlete, elite or not.
“Any person that says they are super motivated during quarantine, it’s hard to believe,” he said.
Routines had been hard to find and he wasn’t in the mood to follow a specific swimming program tied to a stretch cord. But luckily for him, his coach is his wife, Michelle Lenhardt, and the two have been able to come up with ways to stay in shape that don’t become stale.
“We would go for a run or play with kettle bells and weights we have at home or some medicine balls,” Fratus said. “We would go for eventual swims in the backyard pool so it’s just moving and keeping myself active – it wasn’t anything specific.”
Bruno Fratus has been one of the lucky ones to return to a real training pool this week, along with various swimmers around the world that have shared their returns on social media. Worlds medalists Jeremy Desplanches, Cate Campbell and Xu Jiayu have been able to get back in the water in various parts of the globe.
But he has been without his training partner Renzo Tjon A Joe, who is back at home in Suriname.
Fratus has preferred training alone the last couple of years, with just him and his wife on the deck during practice. But Renzo has been training alongside Fratus the last few months, and the two have benefitted immensely from each other.
“I was the kind of swimmer that I really liked training alone and just me and my coach in the swimming pool. With him it is different,” Bruno Fratus said. “We have a friendship that goes way back to maybe 2014 or 2015. So if I had to choose someone that was working with me daily then it would be him for sure. He is very talented – a nice kid and a hard working athlete. So I’m glad to have someone like him. The kid can go! He can really swim so we have a lot of fun workouts.”
Renzo left for Suriname around the time that the quarantine in Florida got serious so he could be with his family in Suriname.
“We definitely miss having him around,” Fratus said.
And with the quarantine slowly ending in south Florida and other places around the world, Bruno Fratus and Renzo Tjon A Joe will be reunited soon, as they chase their dreams at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Once we are free to go and once we are free to work properly – not just one hour a day with all these limitations, then we are going to be in a good place.”
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