Robert Scheidt

Robert Scheidt (born April 15, 1973) is a renowned Brazilian sailor.

Born in São Paulo, his father gave him his first boat at the age of 9 and began practising in the Guarapiranga dam. With the help of Dudu Melchert, his coach, he began winning several competitions. Currently, with four Olympic medals (2 golds and 2 silvers), Scheidt is one of the most successful sailors at Olympic Games and one of the most successful Brazilian olympic athletes.

At the age of 11, Scheidt became the South American Champion in the Optimist Class, in Algorrobo, Chile, in 1985 and again in 1986. Because of his wins, he was chosen to represent Brazil in the Optimist World Championship in 1986. This fact was the turning point of his career and made him decide to quit tennis and focus on sailing.

Because his weight and height exceeded the Optimist recommendations, he began sailing in the Snipe Class and became three times Brazilian junior champion. In 1990, he began sailing in the Laser dinghy and became Brazilian junior champion and was called to represent Brazil in the Junior World Championships, held in Netherlands. In this championship, he realized he had what it took to be a great athlete and trained in Denmark and Sweden and participated for the first time in the Kiel Week (Kieler Woche).In 1991, he won 10 out of the 11 races and became Laser Junior World Champion, in Scotland.

In 1995, he won gold in the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina and attracted the attention of the Brazilian Press, along with his first World Title, in Tenerife, Spain. In the following year, he graduated at the Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Business Administration.In this year, 1996, his greatest achievement: the Olympic Gold Medal in Atlanta, in the Laser Class. He also won in 1996 the World Championship, held in Cape Town, South Africa and again in 1997, in Algarrobo, Chile.

In 1999, he won the Gold Medal in the Pan American Games, in Winnipeg, Canada. In 2000, after his fourth World Title, in Cancún, Mexico, he was the favorite to win gold in the Olympic Games, in Sydney. But along with the rest of the Brazilian delegation, he failed to win the medal and, after an amazing and controversial battle with Ben Ainslie, from Great Britain, he took home the Silver Medal.His fifth world title came in 2001, in Cork, Ireland and his sixth in 2002, in Cape Cod, United States.

In 2003, he became for the third time Pan American Games Champion, with the gold in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 2004, he won the Gold Medal in Athens and won his 6th World Title in Bitez, Turkey. His last World Title came in 2005, when he was proclaimed champion in his birth country for the first time, in Fortaleza, Brazil.After this win, he decided to leave the Laser class and to focus in the Star Class, along with Bruno Prada, a class in which he has won already nine titles since 2003, including the World Title in 2007, in Portugal and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. With this podium he also became the first Brazilian athlete to win a medal in four consecutive Olympic Games.

Main Titles

Robert Scheidt has already won 125 titles until May, 2006, including 68 in Brazil and 57 abroad. His main achievements are:

*Star Class
**Silver in Beijing, 2008
*Laser Class
**Olympic Games:
***Gold in Atlanta, 1996 and in Athens, 2004
***Silver in Sydney, 2000
**World Championships:
***Tenerife, Spain, 1995
***Cape Town, South Africa, 1996
***Algarrobo, Chile, 1997
***Cancún, Mexico, 2000
***Cork, Ireland, 2001
***Cape Cod, USA, 2002
***Bitez, Turkey, 2004
***Fortaleza, Brazil, 2005
**World ISAF Games:
***Marseille, France, 1997
**World Junior Championship:
***Scotland, 1991
**Pan AMerican Games:
***Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1995
***Winnipeg, Canada, 1999
***Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2003
**Europe Cup:
***1993, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005
**South American Championships:
***1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2004
**Brazilian Championships:
***1987 (junior), 1991 (junior), 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
**Kiel Week:
***1999, 2000, 2004
**Spa Week:
***1998, 2002
*Optimist Class:
**South American Championship (youth):
***1985, 1986
*Star Class:
**Pre-Olympic:
***2006
**South American Championship:
***2006
**Brazilian Championship:
***2006
**World Championship:
***2007