University of São Paulo: USP student receives award for best athlete in sport climbing in 2021
An undergraduate student at the USP School of Dentistry (FO), Felipe Ho Foganholo won the 22nd Olympic Brazil Award, in the Sport Climbing modality. Considered the Oscar of national sport, the honor chooses the best Olympic and Paralympic athletes in Brazil annually. The celebration took place in December 2021, when an electoral college formed by athletes and former athletes, journalists and leaders linked to sport selected names of 51 different modalities.
The Olympic Brazil Award is intended for the athlete, regardless of gender, who had the best performance of the year in their modality. The USP student has already been awarded as the best athlete in Sport Climbing twice and was a 13-time Brazilian Champion in Sport Climbing. The athlete reached the top in the Brazilian competition ranking and is one of the few in the country to reach degrees of difficulty V14 and 9a in the French graduation, in outdoor climbing – a modality practiced in natural environments, such as rocks and mountains. Currently, Ho is part of the Brazilian Sport Climbing Team , which debuted as an Olympic sport in 2020 at the Tokyo Olympics.
Between hours of training, physical preparation and physiotherapy, the athlete and dentistry student says he uses the “short blanket” rule to reconcile such different tasks. “When Felipe is not wearing gloves in the laboratory or at the university clinic, he will probably be sweaty or with magnesium in his hand, training”, he told Jornal da USP .
The dental school class that Ho joined in 2017 has already graduated. Even so, the student says he is proud of his colleagues and, although late, hopes to complete his graduation. Motivated to develop in the sport and with the aim of having a good education in college, Ho decided to stop the course in the second semester of 2017 and in the second semester of 2018. “It has been a very challenging trajectory, since both Odonto and my career (in sport) is very valuable to me”.
Despite this, the student says he has no regrets. At the Brazil Olympic Award ceremony in Aracaju, Ho thanked the professionals who had helped him along his path and also the faculty at the faculty. “I am passionate about helping others and taking care of the health and well-being of human beings, so dentistry is indirectly a passion and I believe that I will still learn a lot following this path”. The USP School of Dentistry congratulated the student on the achievement.
The 22nd edition of the Brasil Olímpico Awards also honored athletes from the Brazilian School Games and the Brazilian University Games, the best coaches of the year and former athletes.