BRASILIA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva received Tuesday members of the national swimming team.

    Lula received 25 swimmers headed by Cesar Cielo, who won the gold medal in the 50 and 100 meters freestyle and imposed a new world record in the latter category with a time of 46.91 seconds in the last world championships in Roma.

    The Brazilian President met with the swimmers at the Alvorada Palace, his official residence, and took them to the pool of his house, in which he used to swimming before the doctor diagnosed a bursitis in his right shoulder six years ago.

    Lula praised the national swimming team's performance in Roma, in which Brazil had the best performance in its history, finishing the ninth place in the medal table with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

    "It shows people that this achievement was the result of much dedication and work, not half an hour of training per day," he said.

    He also promised to built in Brazil centers of high performance swimming, so that Cesar Cielo and other athletes don't need to train in the United States.