The José Finkel Trophy is a Brazilian competition played by teams in individual and relay swimming events. It is also known as the Brazilian Open Winter Championship and / or the Brazilian Open Short Course Pool Championship, despite being sporadically played in the Long Course Pool. It is one of the most notable events nationwide. Its first edition took place in 1972 in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

and had Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas as champion. The most recent edition took place in the city of Curitiba in September 2019. The trophy is marked by the hegemony of the clubs in the states of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

and

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. Its name is a tribute to the promising swimmer from Paraná, José Finkel, who died in 1971 as a result of cancer.

Trophy history

After José Finkel's death, Berek Krieger, then president of the Paraná Aquatics Sports Federation (FDAP) decided to create a competition in the winter, thus filling a hole in the national swimming calendar. The creation of the event would also be a way to improve the mood of swimming in Paraná, which had been greatly reduced by the death of the young swimmer. Finkel started treatment and disappeared, probably saved by the family, of the taboos related to this disease, then in effect. A few weeks later, Finkel died. The team he was part of, Centro Israelita, could not bear the loss, and after Finkel's death no one trained anymore.

About José Finkel

José Finkel was an athlete born in 1954. In 1968, he helped the Curitiba team to be the winner of men's swimming in the 12th Paraná Open Games. In October 1970, the small swimming team, Centro Israelita, traveled to a competition at Grêmio Náutico União, in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...

. The state of Paraná was, then, weak in this sport. He had never produced a swimmer of national prominence. José Finkel, still 17 years old, was already considered the best "Breastroker" of the team. In one of the training sessions for the competition, Finkel started to feel bad. When the team returned to Curitiba, he faced the medical exams and his clinical picture pointed to cancer in the lymphatic vessels.

Trophy history

About José Finkel

Champion by Year

Meet records

Long course (50 m)

Men

Women

Short course (25 m)

Men

Women

References