Brazil is to be represented by 259 athletes (136 men, 123 women) at the London 2012 Olympic Games. They will be competing in 32 different disciplines.

The Brazilian Olympic Committee (Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro – COB) expects that the total haul of medals will be similar to that achieved by Brazil in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics, when the country won 15 medals including two individual golds (César Cielo in the men’s 50m freestyle swimming; and Maurren Maggi in the women’s long jump) and one team gold (women’s volleyball).

Brazil hopes to be better placed to win a higher number of medals when Rio de Janeiro hosts the Olympics in 2016.

Footballing Gold

Brazilian fans are hoping that at Wembley Stadium the men and women’s football teams can finally end their long and exasperating wait for an Olympic gold. Both have won silver in the past. The women in Beijing, losing to the United States in the final; and the men in 1984 in Los Angeles, losing to France in the final, and in 1988 in Seoul, losing to the Soviet Union. In Beijing the men’s team won bronze. The Olympics is the only international competition in football organized by FIFA that Brazil has never won.

Brazil Coach Mano Menezes has selected a strong group for the men’s team for the 2012 Olympics including Porto striker Hulk alongside AC Milan’s Thiago Silva and Real Madrid left-back Marcelo as his three over-age players.

Some of the world’s leading stickers have been named in the squad including Santos’ Neymar who has scored nine goals in 18 games for the senior Brazil team, while Hulk and AC Milan’s Pato have also impressed for the full side.

Premier League players include Rafael, of Manchester United, and Tottenham midfielder Sandro.

The full Brazil squad for London is: Rafael Cabral (Santos), Neto (Fiorentina); Alex Sandro (Porto), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Rafael (Manchester United), Danilo (Porto), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), Bruno Uvini (Sao Paulo), Juan (Inter Milan); Sandro (Tottenham), Romulo (Spartak Moscow), Paulo Henrique Ganso (Santos), Oscar (Internacional), Lucas Moura (Sao Paulo); Neymar (Santos), Leandro Damiao (International), Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Hulk (Porto).