Olympic Dreams: Miami Skater Builds Brazilian Skating Program

By: Caroline Nourse Photos By JoAnne Vrabel

Posted: 3/3/10

On a typical Saturday in January, most Miami students are lounging around, checking Facebook, and going Uptown to meet friends later that night.

For sophomore Elena Rodrigues, however, her Saturdays are sometimes a bit different.

On a cold Saturday morning this past January, Rodrigues boarded a plane heading to South Korea, where she was competing in the Olympic senior-level female singles skating at the International Skating Union's Four Continents Championships.

Rodrigues was one of four people-three women and one man-competing for her country at Four Continents. But, Rodrigues wasn't skating for the United States. She skated for Brazil.

A former member of the Miami varsity synchronized skating team, Rodrigues has dual citizenship in both the United States and her father's native country of Brazil. With Brazil sending only four people to the championships, while the United States, Canada, and China each sent 18 people, Rodrigues recognizes the significance of her accomplishments.

"I'm one of the first few girls to represent Brazil because they're trying to build the program," she says.

It's not unusual for people to skate for one country while living and training in another, according to Rodrigues, and this is especially true for those living in the United States due to the depth and extent of the U.S. program.

In 2008, she was the fi rst female to represent Brazil at the International Skating Union's World Junior Figure Skating Championships held in Bulgaria. Because Brazil's skating program is still in its infancy, the first skater to compete internationally was just in 2007.

"There's not really full-size rinks in Brazil yet," Rodrigues says. "There's a plan to build one, but we'll see."

Part of that plan includes Rodrigues. The Brazilian Ice Sports Federation is working to build Brazil's program from the bottom up, but a big obstacle is the lack of skaters in Brazil. Rodrigues is working to fix that.

"There's a plan in the works where I'm going to start the process of developing a synchronized skating team from Brazil," Rodrigues says.

Although there is not yet a set time frame, Rodrigues and Viki Korn, former Miami varsity synchronized skating head coach, are going to begin developing a Brazilian team in the near future, hoping to turn it into an Olympic sport, similar to the United States. But they know they have a long way to go.

"The only way to really do that is if more federation and more countries are represented," Rodrigues says. Rodrigues' father, John, originally came to the United States for college feels extremely proud that his daughter is skating for his native country, especially because he knows Brazil is trying to build up their winter sports program, and his daughter may lend a big hand in that venture.

"I'm proud of her. Brazil has never been a winter sports country," John says. "But under the head of the Brazilian ice federation Eric Maleson they're trying to get some type of winter sports in Brazil."

"It never crossed my mind that she would skate for Brazil until about two years ago," John says.

Although no Brazilian ice skaters qualifi ed for this year's Olympic games, John believes if Brazil continues to build a program they will soon fi nd themselves at the Olympics-perhaps the 2014 winter games in Russia.

Before she planned to play a role in helping to build up Brazil's skating program, Rodrigues just wanted to compete. In order to compete for Brazil, she joined Miami's club team this year instead of the varsity team because of synchronized skating rules. Last year when she was on the varsity team, she was also a member of Team USA.

Although she is constantly onthe- go, Rodrigues has the support of the other girls on the club synchronized skating team, like sophomore Candice Bracken, who says Rodrigues is always pumping up the team before competitions and helping them to bond.

"It's definitely cool that she can skate for another country and still manage to skate with us in college," Bracken says.

It's this movement that Rodrigues loves most. Her favorite part of skating is being able to travel all over. Rodrigues has visited Europe three times, once for a competition with the Miami team, and twice by herself when she was competing in international skating competitions.

"Just being able to travel, I mean, there's no other way I'd go overseas if it wasn't for skating," Rodrigues says.

Rodrigues has won several local competitions, and while the Olympics would be a dream come true for any skater, Rodrigues is more focused on helping Brazil expand their program.

"I think my goal is to pave the way for someone else to go [to the Olympics] from Brazil," she says. "I would like it to be me, but I'm not sure [that will happen]."