After four decades working with the sport, Roberto Guimarães focus, discipline and intense dedication is so impressive as his calmness, humility and good chat. The only coach to win the gold Olympic medal leading both men’s and women’s Volleyball, he has experienced and strongly contributed to the formation of a Brazilian school, the most winning one. He made a difference and was pioneer in both categories. He has reached the summit of the performance without the professorial tone. He has not achieved all of that in vain.

Fifty seven years old, professor in sport and life, José Roberto will defend the title leading the female team in London 2012. He heads the official Brazilian team since 2003. In Athens 2004, he participated in one of the most dramatic matches of the Olympic history, when the Russian team defeated Brazil in the semifinals. In the third set, Brazil was with the gold medal in its hands, as the team had won the first two sets and had had seven match points. After the trauma has been overcome, the first women’s gold came with Brazil’s faultless campaign in Beijing 2008: they lost just one set in eight disputed matches.

Brazil has won the first men’s gold in Barcelona 1992. Also under his commands, the victory in Holland in the final came to acclaim the trajectory built on professionalism and organization.

On a rainy afternoon, by one of the numerous courts of the Brazilian team Development Centre – fully equipped and spacious – located in Saquarema, two hours from the city of Rio de Janeiro, the legendary coach gave the following interview to Rio 2016™:

Most experts believe that you should encourage the sport at school if you want to foster a sport and, consequently, obtain a base of high-performance talents. How could Volleyball achieve the excellence without prioritizing this model?

We search for talents inside the school and also outside it, at a bus stop, anywhere. There will always be a Volleyball coach looking for a talent in the streets, for a taller player, for instance. This has happened since I was a player or even a little earlier than that. During my coach life, I have always heard colleagues telling stories about talents they found on the streets, at schools, talents that were very important for the development of the sport.

You have participated in the origin of the Brazilian Volleyball school, so to speak…

In the Brazilian Volleyball school we had a different standard of living. We had to study, work, train, we were not so available for training, we were not professionals. From the moment we decided to professionalise it, in other words, from the moment we have gathered a group to train together every day, the level of athletes has improved amazingly. The same happened in 1977. We started training with other schools, the best in the world that time, Japan, Russia, Bulgaria, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The countries from East Europe were more developed, as well as Japan and Cuba. The United States team was developed in the universities. Many people started studying Volleyball, which has also been vital to the present condition of the sport.

What are the main differences among the three schools that are on the top of the men’s and women’s world rankings nowadays: Brazil, USA and Russia?

In the United States, it starts in college. Afterwards, they train at the universities. Of course the scholarships are important. The students want the scholarships so that they can play and develop themselves. They are approved in the selection process and keep moving. It is a great school, not only in terms of Volleyball, but in terms of sport itself.

In Russia, there is a large demand for Volleyball, because they like the sport there. Volleyball is the second more practiced sport, together with Basketball. In the winter, Ice Hockey gains a lot of fans, but Volleyball also does, as I could check with some Russian players. The training of the official team starts early, as well as it happens in Brazil. They have almost the same philosophy as we have. They want to take the girls to the team while they are still very young, to have time to develop them. They have a good national championship. The Russian championship is strong. As they are in Europe, they have the chance to compete in many high level tournaments. This enhances Russian Volleyball level.

You led both male and female Brazilian teams to another level in the Olympic Games. What do you assign Barcelona 1992 and Beijing 2008 turning points to? What were the features that Brazil could combine in these two moments so that it could get to the top?

We have started this exact work [of training with other schools]. We cannot forget about those who have developed Volleyball previously. Brazil has always had a good school in terms of technique. Nevertheless, our players were not so tall. They were skilful, but they were not able of training too much. From the moment we started looking for a taller and stronger biotype, and that we have preserved the technical skills our former players had, we made a leap in quality.

We found out that we worked as some schools. Japan, for instance, Czechoslovakia itself, that had a similar style, but they had taller and stronger players who trained every day. When we started training with them, we started playing as equals. From that point on, it was a matter of time, of experience, of major competitions, of finding talented generations. It has soon appeared in the 1980s, with that generation that won the silver [in Los Angeles 1984]. Many players of the 1992 team felt inspired by the silver team. That generation has helped us a lot, in many aspects. It was just a matter of better arranging our work and the results became apparent.

Regarding the women’s team, the change took some time…

The women’s team has a peculiarity: the fact that women from a previous phase than ours had a shorter life in terms of sport. Aspects such as pregnancy, marriage. These aspects somehow affects the women’s cycle in the sport. I had some problems with girls that were out because they were pregnant. Other coaches have had problems too. When we are talking about men, it is a continuous thing. The change took some time to happen in the women’s team because of some problems that important players had during their trajectory.

You have been to the Olympic Games as a player (Montreal 1976), two times as a coach in the men’s team (Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996) and two times with the girls’ team (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008). Tell us about your experiences and your expectation for Rio 2016™.

From all the Olympic Games I have participated in, I can describe one as amazing, the best for me: Barcelona 1992. The second one in my opinion was Beijing, not because of the gold medals, but because of the organization. Barcelona managed to build Games for the city. They have built roads, gymnasiums, stadiums, but neither solely for the Games nor to show the world that Spain could do it. It was all done to improve the conditions in Barcelona. It has helped a lot and it still helps. Rio has to keep this in mind. It is not only about preparing the Games, what I think it will do well, but it is also about the infrastructure. The great legacy is this.

Where were you on October 2, 2009, the day that Rio won the bid? What did you feel when IOC President, Jacques Rogge, announced Rio’s name?

I must have been with the team somewhere across the world (giggles), but we were all cheering. At first, I was happy due to the victory. The second thing that came to my mind was “Are we able to prepare great Games, to show the world that we are an organised country, that we manage to host such a huge event as this one?”. At the same time, inside me, as a Brazilian that participates in many international and national events, we have always been able to make great things. The competitions that take place in Brazil are the best ones, at least when we talk about Volleyball. And the Pan-American Games were a good event. So, I am confident that Brazil will prepare something great.

In your speeches, you use to bring up an issue that is current in every high performance athlete life: the price he/she is willing to pay to get to the top. As a former athlete and as a coach, four decades involved with sport, what did you have to renounce in order to get to the summit? After achieving so many victories, is it still worth it?

I had to give up almost everything. The relationship with my friends, my family, my country. To learn more, I had to leave my country, live abroad, be a coach in Italy, in Turkey, learn more about my opponents. I had to leave the things I like most to go for my dream, the gold medal. And I knew that, to add something to my team, I had to sacrifice something too, so that I could give more information to the players. All of us made some sacrifice, and we still do it.

I lived abroad for four years. Actually, I didn’t have to do this to make money, because I would earn the same thing here in Brazil. I have done it because I wanted to go for it, to record everything, to chat and figure out how the players mind worked. I had to train some of them, my opponents in the future, teach them something, of course, but, at the same time, I was getting to know them and their games. When I look back, I know that I would do it again. I have learnt different languages; I have known very interesting people and places. The emptiness of not having the family with me was awful. But they understood why I did that and everything is alright, life goes on.