Djan Garrido Madruga (born 7 December 1958 in Rio de Janeiro[1]) is a former international freestyle swimmer and former South American record-holder from Brazil.
As a result of him nearly drowning, his father Dirceu Madruga enrolled him in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) swimming school at Urca.
He wanted his son to be able to play in the water safely, but soon Djan Madruga's instructor realized that the boy had a gift for swimming and recommended him for the Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas team.
Djan decided to change clubs, and joined the Fluminense FC where he began to work with a new swimming coach.
Under the guidance of Denir de Freitas, Djan now loved to train and a period of impressive developments began, when they concentrated on distance events.
The structure, scale and technical levels were a surprise to Djan Madruga, and he returned to Brazil determined to work hard to come back, and win.
Secondly, the logistics of everyday life in Rio de Janeiro made it difficult for Djan to travel to his swimming club and college.
He chose Indiana University, studying physical education and training with Doc Counsilman, Mark Spitz's coach.
[5] Djan Madruga went to Mission Viejo in 1977, to train with the renowned U.S. swimming coach, Mark Schubert, where he shared the pool with the Olympic champion and record holder Brian Goodell.
[14][15] At the U.S. Open in April 1980 at Austin, Texas, Djan Madruga won the 800-metre freestyle and the 400-metre individual medley races, in the process achieving a goal he had set in Montreal 1976, by defeating the Olympic champion Brian Goodell.
[5] Djan Madruga competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics, in Moscow, where he won the bronze medal in the men's 4×200-metre freestyle relay event, with Jorge Fernandes, Cyro Delgado, and Marcus Mattioli in a time of 7:29.30.
[3] The 30-hour flight from Los Angeles to Moscow, left just five days to acclimatize and adjust to the new time zone, before the swimming competition began.
But Jorge Fernandes, Cyro Delgado and Marcus Mattioli all swam two seconds faster than they had in their individual events, and Djan finished like a champion, holding opponents and leading the team to Olympic podium, to win the bronze medal.
[5] Swimming in lane 1 in the 400-metre individual medley; he was first at the end of the backstroke, lost ground in the breaststroke, and held on in the crawl to finish in 5th place (4:26.81).
[5] At the 1981 Summer Universiade, held in Bucharest, Djan Madruga won the silver medal in both the 400-metre freestyle and the 200-metre backstroke.
I managed to reach the final of the 200-metre individual medley, but I was weak because food there was terrible, and finished the race in eighth place."
During this time he won the following titles: He competed in the Ironman Hawaii in 1984, where he broke the record of swimming stage (3.8 km), finishing 126th from 1500 competitors.
[24] Djan Madruga owns a swimming academy in Rio de Janeiro built in the 1990s in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood.