Brazilian champion Robert Scheidt and his sailing partner Bruno Prada ensured their participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in a selection that took place in Rio on Thursday.

Scheidt and Prada sailed together and arrived in the first and in the third positions in the two races held in the Guanabara Bay, east of the city of Rio. Their performance relieved them from the need to participate in the remaining two races on Friday, which were cancelled.

Scheidt, 34, will take part in the Olympic Games for the fourth time in his career. In the previous editions, he won two gold medals (in Atlanta 1996 and in Athens 2004) and a silver medal in Sydney 2000, all of them in the laser dinghy.

Prada, 36, will make his debut at the Olympics in Beijing, but it will also represent a new experience for Scheidt, who will compete in the star dinghy for the first time in the Games.

"Disputing the Olympics in the star dinghy is another dream that I will accomplish. I am very excited with what is happening in our partnership and our goal is to represent Brazil well in China," said the champion, who longs to become the first three-time Olympic gold medalist in Brazil.

In the race for a place in the 2008 Olympics, they beat sailors Lars Grael and Marcelo Jordao.

"The classification was valued by Lars Grael's outstanding performance. He is an exemplar person," Scheidt stressed, recalling Grael's almost-fatal accident in 1998, when a boat propeller amputated one of his legs. Until then, he had won two Olympic bronzes in the snipe dinghy (1988 and 1996), and eventually returned to competitions later.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2008)