My journey with swimming started early, when I was just a child, but it didn’t last long. I was only five or six years old, yet I still remember that huge pool in front of me, and what I learned back then helped me avoid starting from zero when I picked it up again.
Living in the countryside of Brazil, far from any beach, and with the high cost of swimming lessons—or even limited access to pools—I only truly returned to swimming so I could take part in triathlon races. My first open water experience was in a reservoir near Sorocaba (São Paulo state). I swam 200 meters, maybe less; the water must have been around 18°C. I froze and got out. For those who swim in Portugal, 18°C can even feel warm, but for a Brazilian, it’s freezing.
Fortunately, I’m stubborn—I kept trying again and again, and because of that I completed several triathlons in Brazil and one in France. I used to joke with my friends that the real goal in a triathlon was simply to finish the swim; the rest we were sure we’d complete, but the swim was always a big unknown.
Along the way, I fell in love with swimming to the point that I realized that, even if one day triathlon is no longer possible, swimming is something I will continue.
What made me fall in love with open water swimming was the peace—the feeling of being part of that aquatic environment, of seeing places from a perspective I can only access through swimming, and of being able to lose myself in my thoughts with an endless horizon in sight.
When I moved to Portugal, with its wonderful coastline so close by (even if the water is cold!), I decided that swimming would become my leisure activity. But I didn’t want to venture into the sea alone, so I found the Swim4fun group—a community of people who love swimming and enjoy the process of pushing their limits. No matter your pace, everyone can take part, and everyone celebrates each other’s achievements.
And so, open water swimming went from being just a stage of a race I had to get through to becoming the sport that truly brings me joy.
Ricardo Silvério