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Friday 20 July 2012

TSE Consulting assists in development of Brazil's London training site

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TSE Consulting client, the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), has started to welcome Team Brazil to its unique London based training site at Crystal Palace. After two years of planning, several on-site visits and a lot of operational considerations, the COB is pleased to be welcoming Brazilian athletes and delegation members arriving in London to this home away from home.

This is the first time the Brazilian Olympic Committee has created such an independent training facility on-site at the Olympic Games. The innovative approach to on-site games operations is part of the on-going sports performance advice that TSE Consulting's Sports Performance team is providing to the COB as they prepared for London 2012 and do long-term sports performance planning for the 2016 Rio Games.

Among other services, TSE provided advice in the planning and development of the Crystal Palace Training Centre. The venue includes two beach volleyball courts, three pools, a gymnasium, football fields, field-hockey pitches, tennis courts, a 400m running track and athletics field as well as an indoor track, accommodation for 144 people, and fitness, dinning and media facilities. It also offers video analysis equipment and sports sciences, physical therapy and medical services. As part of these services, Crystal Palace has been set up with innovative tele-medical systems which enable a team specialized in tele-medicine to contact, via internet video, various medical specialists around the world that meet the needs of the Brazilian athletes. The whole tele-medical structure was installed at no costs as part of an agreement with the University of Miami.

Crystal Palace offers all of the services needed to support high performance of the athletes, but it also aims to provide a friendly environment that reminds athletes of home. Throughout the facility there are banners and photos depicting athletes and historical achievements of Brazil from previous editions of the Games. A Brazilian chef, Roberta Sudbrack, is also part of the team at Crystal Palace. Working voluntarily, Sudbrack was charged with appointing the kitchen staff and creating the cafeteria, that has capacity to service 210 people simultaneously. The food has been designed to activate the memory of athletes, making them remember home, thinking of the food made by their mother or grandmother, and thus feeling less homesick and able to focus on their performance.

Edgar Hubner, Manager of Team Brazil in Crystal Palace, said: "Now that the athletes have started to arrive all the effort is worth it. We are sure that Team Brazil has everything it needs to make a great final preparation in the lead up to the Games."

Steve Roush, TSE Senior Consultant Sports Performance, said: "It has taken a lot of work to make Crystal Palace come alive, but the value it will serve for Brazilian athletes is unquestionable. Creating the right environment onsite at the Games is an essential component of delivering high performance results. Every National Olympic Committee should be thinking about how to provide athletes with a comfortable environment that meets their performance needs. Big or small, there are things that can be done to increase the likelihood of top performance from athletes. Developing Crystal Palace with the COB has been great and I have no doubt the effort will be worth it."


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