This time, it’s my time,” says a relaxed, snappily-dressed Gabriel Soares. Having made it through the merry-go-round of selection in Italy’s notoriously competitive lightweight squad then blasting through their world cup races undefeated, Soares could be talking about his meteoric rise in rowing and his upcoming Olympic debut. He’s not. He’s actually talking about this magazine.
Photo ITA LM2x
“It was amazing to read,” says Soares describing how, as a young rower, he’d grab a copy from wherever he could find one. “So it’s a pleasure to be interviewed.”
Soares is speaking to me from his home in Varese, Italy. It’s a rare rest day for 27-year-old Italian LM2x sculler, he’s between pre-Olympic training camps, recently returned from Livigno in the north of the country where the kilometres are tough and the air is thin. Tomorrow he heads to Lake Piediluco.
Oozing enthusiasm the Brazilian-born sculler says his love for the sport means he often trains on a rest day. “Even after a long training camp I will go out in my single. Normally after a long camp we will have a rest day but for me it’s a pleasure to go out for an hour in the single. When I get back I always feel better. It is freedom.”
His home is a hotspot for international rowers. “I have a lot of friends from other countries who come here. It is always good to train together. Right now Lucas Ferreira is here, the single sculler from Brazil. He’s a big friend of mine. We met at Rio in my first world rowing championships as a junior and kept in touch. The Swiss double came earlier in the year.” The Swiss will be a key competitor at Paris for Soares and his teammate Stefano Oppo. Is that awkward? “We are competitors and genuine friends. It is always good to talk to them.”
Born near the Iguazu Falls, Soares’s Italian roots come by way of his grandmother. “My parents are Brazilian. I lived there until I was ten. The conditions in Brazil were not good so let’s try something different.” After his parents divorced, Soares came to Italy only with his mum. “It was a difficult moment but now we are good. My mum made a good choice.”
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