Above Announces Sponsorship of Athlete Thiago Braz

The Olympic champion will have the brand's support for three years, through Paris 2024

Baston Aerossóis, the manufacturer of the Above brand, has just signed a contract with NR Sports to sponsor Brazilian pole vault medalist Thiago Braz. The three-year contract will help the athlete prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. “Thiago deserves all the support he can get, not only because of his life story and resilience, but also because of his performance and dedication to track and field. He gives it his all to take Brazil to the top of the podium, and now he can count on our support for his upcoming competitions,” says Gustavo Malucelli Bacila, CEO of Baston.

This is Above's fourth sponsorship in the world of sports. The brand has partnered with soccer player Neymar Jr., sponsors Stock Car drivers Tony Kanaan and Rafael Suzuki, and now athlete Thiago Braz.

With this sponsorship, the brand becomes one of the athlete’s main supporters. “This sponsorship will really help me as I prepare for the Paris Olympics, so I can perform at my best and bring home more medals for Brazil. Let’s work hard together with Above to make history,” said Thiago.

Thiago became a national hero at the 2016 Rio Olympics, when he won the gold medal in the pole vault and broke the Olympic record. He began his track and field career at age 14, encouraged by his uncle Fabiano Braz, who was a decathlete. He began his career training and competing for the Clube dos Bancários in Marília, the city where he was born.

After moving to Bragança Paulista, he won the Brazilian Minors Championship, the Brazilian Youth Championship, the State Minors Championship, and the State Youth Championship. In 2009, he competed in his first international competition and won the bronze medal at the South American Junior Championships. With these strong results, he began competing for the BMF&BOVESPA Track and Field Club.

From there, he won silver at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, finished as runner-up at the Brazil Track and Field Trophy, won gold at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Track and Field, held in Barcelona, Spain, and the following year, he won gold at the Leverkusen Meeting in Germany.

In 2014, Thiago married fellow athlete Ana Paula Oliveira and began training under Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov at the Formia Training Center in Italy. The current Olympic record holder was on the rise, achieving his best and highest marks, when he suffered an injury in the Diamond League—the premier annual track and field competition—and had to cut his season short, undergo surgery, endure the pain, and regain the confidence needed to return to jumping.

After recovering, Thiago returned to competing in national and international events until June 2015, when he broke the South American outdoor record by jumping 5.92 meters at the Street Athletics Baku competition in Azerbaijan. In February 2016, at the Staf indoor tournament in Berlin, Germany, he defeated Olympic champion and world record holder Renaud Lavillenie and set a new Brazilian and South American indoor record with a jump of 5.93 meters.

In the history of the pole vault, no one in South America has jumped higher than Thiago Braz. The showdown between Thiago and France’s Renaud Lavillenie took place once again at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the first Olympics of the Brazilian’s career. Cheered on by thousands of Brazilians, he beat the gold medal favorite with a jump of 6.03 meters, becoming the current Olympic record holder and one of only nine athletes in the world to have cleared six meters.

In February 2017, Thiago was named “Best in Track and Field” by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB). In July 2018, he won another gold medal at the Sotteville-lès-Rouen Meeting, jumping 5.70 meters, and in 2019, at the South American Championships in Lima, he took silver with a jump of 5.41 meters.

Thiago continued to train and jump, maintaining his position among the world’s top 10 jumpers. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, he won the Olympic bronze medal with a jump of 5.87 meters, while also defending his historic Olympic record. In total, the athlete has won 28 gold medals, 23 silver medals, and 13 bronze medals. “We’re proud to support Thiago and align our brand’s purpose with his purpose as an athlete,” Bacila emphasizes.