From slums at the London Olympic Games: it is the red thread that unites many Brazilian athletes. Born and raised in situations of great social hardship, life has reserved for them very tough challenges to face: and even if they remain empty-handed in London, they have already conquered their personal gold medal.
How to David Kleberson, 27 years old, who as a boy worked in the fields on the outskirts of São Paulo picking oranges together with his mother and brothers. Today he is sponsored by Nike and Oakley and is considered one of the most promising Brazilian athletes: in his palmares he already boasts two silver medals won at the Pan American Games in 2007 and 2011.
“In the beginning, by training, I earned 50 reais a month (about 20 euros, Ed) – he says – I worked all month and came home with 50 reais, money we didn´t do anything with. Today I owe my success and achievements to my mother who has always encouraged me despite all the difficulties. At the time, I didn't have the money to buy anything, not even a shirt. Today my reality is completely different, I have a house, a car, thanks to the dedication of all these years".
The same dedication as Rubens Valeriano, 32 years old, from the state of Minas Gerais, the only Brazilian mountain bike cyclist to qualify for London 2012. Until 2001 he worked as a bricklayer to survive and pay for spare parts for his bicycle: "I worked on a construction site and with the money I earned, I paid for the registration for competitions – he explains – For some years I combined work with training and competitions, until I was no longer able to do everything. I had to choose between work and cycling and I chose sport."
A winning choice. The same accomplished by Mauro Vinicius da Silva, 26 years old. An adolescence passed through a thousand difficulties in Presidente Prudente, a small city in the state of São Paulo, up to the sporting breakthrough and a successful career. At the age of 16, after abandoning the dream of playing football, she began to carry out various jobs: from the doorman of the condominium to the packer in a supermarket, up to the home delivery of medicines from a pharmacy. “I delivered medicines on a bicycle – she recalls – it was hellishly hot and I wore dark trousers, I pedaled a lot, it wasn't easy”.
Until a year ago he was practically a stranger. Then in Istanbul he won gold in the world indoor championships in the long jump with 8,23m. The goal for London is to reach 8,50m and make the history of the Olympic Games. To stay in shape (despite his height of 1,83m he weighs only 69kg) he follows a rather particular diet for an athlete, especially if he is Brazilian: in fact, his favorite dish is spaghetti with tomato sauce and diced frankfurters.
Those looking for an Olympic encore in London, after the gold medal in Athens 2004, are instead Sergio Dutra Santos, better known as Serginho, free of team of volleyball. Born in Diamante do Norte, a small municipality in the southern state of Paranà, as a boy he refused to become a drug dealer, a "career" easily accessible for those born into situations of social degradation. Instead he started playing volleyball, but in the mid-90s the team he played for went bankrupt and Serginho found himself doing makeshift jobs, such as selling bleach and putting up wallpaper. Luck turned on his side when the International Volleyball Federation invented the libero position. Suddenly many teams found themselves without players suitable for that role and Serginho was able to make his return to the field.
In the Brazilian delegation there is no shortage of beautiful stories in pink, such as that of the twenty-year-old Rafaela Lopes Silva. Judo fighter, raised in the City of God, one of slums most notorious in Rio de Janeiro, in 2011 he won silver at the world championships. She learned to fight on the street, when she was still a child, during quarrels with neighbors of the same age. Then Geraldo Bernandes, her coach, taught her to turn anger into a medal: “I made her understand that she could channel her energy into judo. In judo it's not important how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up". Today Rafaela is one of more than 4.000 Brazilian sportsmen who receive from the government the Athlete Scholarship, an economic contribution, which fluctuates between 100 and 1.000 euros per month depending on the results obtained, to support the country's most promising athletes: in 2012 the Ministry of Sport allocated 60 million reais (about 20 million euros). Money that, combined with willpower and passion for sport, allows you to write extraordinary success stories.
