Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

“Ricardo Ratto lives and breathes open water,” says Steven Munatones.

“He studies currents and tides. He knows how to set courses and anchor turn buoys in horrific conditions. He knows the implications of split times and stroke rates. He knows well how to identify and officiate impeding of one swimmer by another. He can talk all day and night about the sport – and he can do it intelligently so everyone can pick up another nugget of information or history.

Without question, Ricardo’s passion, experience and knowledge were among the reasons why he was selected to officiate at the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in London. Whether he is in an escort boat, safety craft, on the shore, on dryland, in classrooms, or in technical meetings, Ricardo is a well-known, very well respected, extraordinarily knowledge presence among his peers and in the global swimming community.”

His achievements and know-how are the basis for his recently selection as an Honour Contributor (Administrator) in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in its Class of 2017. Ratto joins a stellar group of swimmers, administrators, escort pilots and organisations that will be inducted and honored on April 22 in Windsor, England at the 2017 International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

Ratto has been a certified FINA open water swimming official for 17 years (since 1999) and served as an International Technical Official in the XXX Olympic Games – London 2012 as well annually as a course and technical official at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka (2001), Montreal (2005), Melbourne (2007) and Rome (2009), at the FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville (2008), Roberval (2010) and Setúbal (2012), at the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup events in Rio de Janeiro (1998), Brasília (2001, 2002, 2003), Belém do Pará (2006) and Santos (2008, 2009, 2010), and as a FINA Safety Delegate at the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup races in Roberval (2012).

In addition to his ubiquitous presence at international competitions, Ratto has also served closer to his Brazilian homeland as the Official Director and Referee of the open water races at the Rio 2007 Pan American Games, as a referee in the South American Open Water Swimming Championships in João Pessoa (1998), Belém do Pará (2003), and São Paulo (2008).

For the Brazilian team that has been consistently ranked high among its global competition, Ratto has served as a coach and manager since 1996 at FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix races in the Maratón Internacional Hernandarias – Paraná (2011), Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli (2011 and 2012), International Jarak-Šabac Marathon Swim (2011), and Ohrid Lake Swimming Marathon (2011).

He was also selected to be the Team Manager of the Rio de Janeiro delegation in the Olimpíadas Escolares, staged annually by COB (Brazilian Olympic Committee), the Open Water Swimming Coordinator for the Brazilian Swimming Federation from 1995 to 2006, and the Brazilian National Open Water Swimming Championships Coordinator.

In addition to his own participation in the 15 km Travessia Mar Grande Salvador and numerous oceans swim in Brazil, Ratto is a surfer and a lecturer with 3 masters degrees in the Biodynamics of Human Movement (his dissertation was a Comparative Analysis Between Front Crawl Stroke and Surf Paddling Stroke), a Science of Human Motricity, and Masters of Business Administration in Sports Management and Public Management.

Ratto joins only two other Brazilians in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame: Abilio Couto (Class of 2001) and Igor De Souza (Class of 2004).

For more information on the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and the April 22nd 2017 induction ceremony, visit its website at www.imshof.org or its Facebook page here.



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