César Cielo Filho is a swimmer who has competed for Brazil. He competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Cielo was the top Brazilian swimmer in the sprint freestyle double (50 and 100) through the late 2000s and early 2010s after the retirement of Gustavo Borges. At his first Games in 2008, he tied for the bronze with Jason Lezak in the 100 metres freestyle, blasting a new South American record (47.67) and beating the defending champion Pieter van den Hoogenband by 0.08 of a second. The 50 metres freestyle marked the peak of Cielo's Olympic career. He recorded the second fastest time of the field (21.47) in the heats to erase Alexander Popov's 1992 Olympic record by 0.44 of a second before Amaury Leveaux set the same record by a hundredth of a second (0.01). He lowered it again to 21.34 during the semifinal round and then surged past the French duo of Leveaux and Alain Bernard by 0.14 of a second to hit the wall first in a new Olympic record of 21.30 at the final. With this feat, Cielo became the first Brazilian swimmer to ever win an Olympic gold medal. His Olympic record also lasted for almost 12 years until Caeleb Dressel lowered it at Tokyo 2020.
Cielo was expected to defend his title in the 50 metres freestyle at London 2012, but he lost the race to Florent Manaudou by a quarter of a second (0.25), leaving him with a bronze. She attempted to qualify for his fifth Olympic team in 2016, but finished outside the top two at the Brazilian trials.
Olympic Results[]
Year | Event | Rank |
---|---|---|
2008 | Men's 50m freestyle | |
Men's 100m freestyle | ||
Men's 4x100m freestyle relay | DQ | |
2012 | Men's 50m freestyle | |
Men's 100m freestyle | 6th |
2008[]
Discipline | Round | Time | |
---|---|---|---|
50 metres freestyle | Heats | 21.47 | OR, AR |
Semifinal | 21.34 | OR, AR | |
Final | 21.30 | OR, AR | |
100 metres freestyle | Heats | 48.16 | |
Semifinal | 48.07 | ||
Final | 47.67 | AR | |
4x100 metres freestyle relay | Heats | DQ (47.91 split) |
|
Final | Did not advance |
2012[]
Discipline | Round | Time |
---|---|---|
50 metres freestyle | Heats | 21.80 |
Semifinal | 21.54 | |
Final | 21.59 | |
100 metres freestyle | Heats | 48.67 |
Semifinal | 48.17 | |
Final | 47.92 |