Twenty-one athletes are taking part in all, including marathon swimmer Poliana Okimoto and judoka Leandro Guilheiro, who are both Olympic medallists.

The aim of the PCA is to prepare athletes for their future careers after they retire from professional sport.

This year's event was launched by COB President Paulo Wanderley.

"This is a COB initiative, whose focus is not on the courts, fields, pools and mats," he said. 

"It is focused on the moment athletes take their first steps into a completely different world. 

"Athletes spend all their lives preparing to achieve objectives and, certainly, this applies also to other activities. 

"The image of success of an athlete may not be immediately transferred to anther field of endeavour. 

"Often, he or she will have to rebuild it. 

"The PCA is an excellent path COB offers the athletes."

Internships, trainee programmes and professional experience placements are all part of the PCA.

Thirty-five-year-old Okimoto, who won Olympic bronze in home water at Rio 2016 in the women's 10 kilometre event, said: "This programme is precisely what we expect from a sport organisation. 

"As an athlete your life is dedicated to sport and often you are unable to train and study at the same time.

"To me, this is a rebirth after sport."

Guilheiro, 34, won Olympic bronze medals at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 in the under-73 kilograms division.

"I'm still an athlete, but since I started in judo I always thought about this transition," he said. 

"My first Olympic medal came when I was 21-years-old, and I had a feeling that I needed to think about that."