Name: Fernando Reis
D.O.B.: 10 March 1990
Nationality: Brazilian
Bodyweight category: +105kg
Major medals (Total):
- 2010 South American Games (Medellin, Colombia) – Silver
- 2011 Pan American Games (Guadalajara, Mexico) – Gold
- 2014 South American Games (Santiago, Chile) – Gold
- 2015 Pan American Games (Toronto, Canada) – Gold
Personal Bests:
- Snatch: 201kg
- Clean and Jerk: 242kg
- Total: 440kg
Fernando Reis
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BUSINESS
1 Snatch or clean & jerk?
It depends of the training cycle. At times I would rather do the snatch and other times the clean & jerk. Snatch is a technical exercise, whereas the clean and jerk… it requires more strength and more courage!
2. What do you like to listen to when training?
For me, the music doesn’t really matter. I like to listen to hip-hop, but I think I listen to music so I don’t get distracted by outside conversations.
3. How many hours a week do you spend in the gym?
I do 2 sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. I do 1 session on Thursday and Saturday. Each session lasts 2 hours.
4. What’s your favourite aspect of training?
My favourite aspect of training is preparing for competition. The prime of the prime. I like to compete well, so I must prepare myself like a savage.
5. Which aspect of training do you hate the most?
I hate the injuries. In fact, now I’m dealing with a big injury that brings a lot of uncertainty throughout the process. But I like to use injuries as an opportunity to work on something else, something I wouldn’t normally do in a training session.
6. If there was one thing you could improve about your technique, what would it be?
Something I would improve about my technique would be for sure my second pull – where I could use more legs instead of my back. By doing that I would be able to keep the barbell closer to my centre of gravity, therefore I would finish the pull more vertically.
7. What is your most memorable lift?
I think lifting at home in the Olympics in 2016 was a memorable moment. Thousands and thousands of people cheering my name – it was very cool.
Watch our intimate interview with Fernando before the Rio Olympic Games.
8. What achievements will allow you to retire happy?
I will retire after I get my World Championships medal and Olympic medal. After that I will be happy. That means I have to work a lot to achieve those goals.
9. Knowing what you know now, what one thing would you change in your first training routines?
Knowing what I know now I would change my patience. When I was younger I used to kill myself in training. Now I know that I have to prepare myself for war and don’t get killed in the process!
10. Who is the greatest weightlifter of all time?
Fernando Reis. I have to believe in myself more than anything. I respect the other lifters and have more respect for those who lift more than myself. I have admiration for Evgeny Chigishev, Khadzhimurat Akkayev, Pyrros Dimas. I like lifters who represent more than just lifting heavy weights.
11. What is the most important thing needed to be an Olympic weightlifter?
Be crazy, but have control. Know that the process takes a long time.
Fernando at the 2017 IWF World Championships
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PERSONAL
1 Describe yourself in 3 words
Determined. Resilient. Kind.
2. What other sports do you like to play?
I like to shoot guns. I like automobiles – anything that involves speed.
3. What is your favourite meal?
Steak and fries.
4. If you could only eat one type of one cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Brazilian steakhouse.
5. Describe your perfect day off.
PR snatch and PR clean & jerk. Sauna and then the beach in Miami. That’s a good day.
6. Which person, alive or dead, would you like to have a conversation with?
The Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna.
7. Name one skill you would like to learn
I would like to learn how to invest money in stocks.
8. Where is the one place you would like to visit?
Bora Bora.
9. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Do the best you can with what you have. Be kind and treat others with respect – everyone is the same unless they give you a reason to treat them differently. Family first.
Watch Fernando takeover @iwfnet Instagram Stories next Wednesday 26 September, as he trains for the 2018 IWF World Championships in Ashgabat.
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