She had the full support of the crowd Monday with loud chants of “Rafa” throughout the competition.
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“I was very sad because I had lost the fight”, Silva told CBC recently of her 2012 bout.
“My sister wanted to do football and I wanted to do dance, ‘ said Raquel”. We are all Silva! screamed the banner headline of the website of O Globo, the major national news conglomerate. The favela is still poor and violent. Ron Biles, her maternal grandfather, and his wife Nellie adopted Simone 16 years ago.
After Silva was disqualified in London, some Brazilians bombarded her with racism on social media. The person who signed her up to Judo at the age of 5 was her father, who wanted to keep her away from crime and drugs in her neighborhood.
She prospered, despite facing prejudice along the way and, at times, racial abuse.
It was the ultimate accomplishment in a career that has taken several detours, including a brief period where it appeared Silva might quit the sport.
According to some Brazilian media accounts, Silva has endured racist taunts in the past, including after her early exit from the 2012 Games in London.
On Monday she was interviewed on national television as she left the winning match. “I thought about leaving judo”.
HERNANDEZ WINS: Nico Hernandez pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Olympics’ first three days on Monday night with a unanimous boxing decision over Russia’s Vasilii Egorov, the European champion and runner-up at last year’s world championships.
“I felt a lot of pressure, but I could do it”. And the result, thank God, came. If it wasn’t for judo, I don’t know where I would be now. “I said to myself that I can’t disappoint all those people who came to see me”. Silva deserved the victory although it was a tough match with chances for both. “It’s hope for all of them”. Rafaela Silva attracted the attention of Geraldo Bernardes, who coached Flavio Canto, a bronze medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympics. “I’ve known Rafaela since she was six years old and we always knew she would manage to get to the Olympics”, he said jubilantly after her win.
“If it wasn’t for judo I could still be hanging around in Cidade de Deus rather than be here”. Because of its proximity to the Olympic competition venues, it received one of Brazil’s “pacification police” forces meant to displace the ruling drug gang, but that experiment in public security has fallen apart in recent months.
Ms. Silva beat Mongolian Sumiya Dorjsuren for the gold.
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Having overcome Miryam Roper, Kim Jan-di, Hedvig Karakas and Corina Caprioriu earlier in the day, Mongolia’s Sumiya Dorjsuren, ranked number one in the world, was defeated in the gold medal contest. She was almost flawless in her victory.
