The host nation, Brazil, also won their first gold of the Games yesterday, with judoka Rafaela Silva winning the title in the women’s 57kg category. The tattoo reads, in Portuguese: “God knows how much I’ve suffered and what I’ve done to get here”. “Of course we would have liked to have won more medals but out there on the mat, everybody who goes out there is a worthy contestant and we hope that my medal will be adored and will open the way for Brazil to win more medals”, Silva said. She was almost flawless in her victory. “I want to be like Rafaela someday”.
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In the final of the women’s 57-kilogram division, Silva delivered what her judo compatriots on the first two days of competition could not: victory. She is also an unlikely story, on an Olympic team that is disproportionately full of white Brazilians (in a country that is 53-per-cent black or mixed-race) and competitors from the middle and upper classes, whose families can afford to invest in sport. Silva’s tale is now worthy of reproduction in its own right. After seven minutes of competition (four minutes of regulation, plus three minutes of golden score time), Silva executed a flawless counterattack on Caprioriu, slamming the Romanian to the ground for the winning waza-ari.
Rafaela’s father, Luiz Carlos, declined to attend his daughter’s preliminary fights, citing nervousness. However, he was present at the venue in Barra de Tijuca on Monday afternoon for Silva’s semi-final and final.
The fact that the men’s football team is having pitiful performances makes the ladies’ participation even more memorable: internet memes comparing the women’s team star Marta and men’s team star Neymar are abundant in social networks, highlighting her accomplishments and his poor performances.
Silva said she has overcome years of criticism since her shock disqualification at the London Olympics to take home the gold.
“She deserves this. She is a unique warrior”.
Silva, who grew up in the City of God favela, the community made famous in the 2002 film, was disqualified in London for an illegal move and was described online as a monkey and taunted with other abuse. Djokovic can still win a medal for Serbia at the Olympics in Brazil as he plays doubles with Nenad Zimonjic.
The women’s bronze medals went to Kaori Matsumoto of Japan – the defending Olympic champion – and Telma Monteiro of Portugal.
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American Lilly King won a trash-talking duel with Russian Yulia Efimova for the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke on Monday night, the US men’s basketball team surged after a slow start, beating Venezuela 113-69, and Serena Williams struggled before beating France’s Alize Cornet 7-6 (5), 6-2 in her bid for a second consecutive singles gold medal. “But I came back, I trained to the maximum and the results came”.
