An anecdote in Brazil tells that, for some, Pelé has been the best football player of all times, and the second best player in Brazil, right behind Garrincha. Not that there would be any excuse for this paradox, but, in 2008, Rebecca Soni was the fourth swimmer of the United States in the 100m breaststroke. And she was the second in the world.

After arriving in fourth place at the US Olympic Team trials, one of the most competitive events of the Swimming world, the young athlete, 21 years old at that time, won the chance to go to Beijing after two declassifications. Jessica Herdy was caught at the anti-doping exam. Tara Kirk missed the entry deadline to replace her. Soni went to the Games and won the silver, losing only to the Australian legend Leisel Jones. In the 200m, she has not even defeated Jones and got the gold medal as she has broken the world record.

Since then, the swimmer, daughter of an Hungarian father and a Romanian mother, was close to perfection. World champion of the 100m breaststroke in Rome 2009 and in the Pan Pacific the following year, she was named the World Swimmer of the Year in 2010 by a specialised magazine. She is the current record holder and world champion of the 100m and 200m breaststroke in short course.

At Rio de Janeiro to compete for the Maria Lenk Trophy (Brazilian National Championship), Rebecca Soni opened a smiled while talking about Brazil. About the anecdotes. Check out the interview.

24 years old, you definitely will be in Rio in 2016…

(giggles) I would love to. I hope so.

How can the atmosphere of joy and celebration of Rio de Janeiro influence the Olympic Movement?

It is the first time I come here, I didn’t know what I would find, but I feel welcomed. People look after you, they do their best to make you feel good in here. Competing here is a great experience, an excellent opportunity. The atmosphere of the Games will be very good, I am sure, and Rio only brings positive things to the Olympic Movement.

The Olympic Games will be received by a new continent, taking place for the first time in South America. What is the importance of it?

It is a good thing that the Games are now taking place in other corners of the world. It is important for the country and its people, and it is a new experience for those who compete. I didn’t know the Games are coming here for the first time. The Games inspire and, if they are everywhere, they can motivate more people, the range is wider.

Do you notice a process of democratisation on sport, particularly in Swimming, since more countries are practicing sports and achieving important results? How does it contribute to sport?

To a certain degree, yes. It is great for the countries that are on the top. Because they will want to improve even more. It is important to have new centres. As much people practice sport, want to improve, the better. Sport is to compete. We compete with people from all over the world the entire time, and with people from our own country too. We are used to it.

The Olympic Movement is not limited to sport. It encompasses education and culture as fundamental milestones, they are the essence and the nature of the Movement. How important was education to your career?

It was very important. In my country, the sport takes place in schools, universities. It is not in any country that this happens. It gives you the opportunity to form a team, to develop team work, to experience a competition. It is a place and a time in which the athletes don’t earn money to practice sport. The school and the university are an identity, crucial for athletes and non-athletes.

Communications advances allow access to competitions from all over the world, every day, through television or internet, inside your house. It helps creating global idols. How to turn the idols into humans again?

At the same time, television can show the lives of the idols out of sport, at their homes, on their daily routine. They are people like everyone else, that work hard and achieve their goals.