The 24-year-old had just won Brazil’s first gold medal of the 2016 Olympics. Everybody in the stands stood, many waved Brazilian flags. They sang, They chanted. Silva bested Corina Caprioriu in her semifinal match to advance to the final.
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Finally the clock started to run down again: three … two … one. Should she jump? Should she run around?
“Olympic volunteers tasked with the job of keeping the aisles clear seemed helpless to stop the fans”.
Silva, who grew up on one of Rio’s hillside shanty towns, won judo’s 57-kilogram division, then, overwhelmed with emotion, performed the Brazilian version of the Green Bay Packers’ “Lambeau Leap” to celebrate with her compatriots Monday.
On Monday, Silva – propelled by a boisterous crowd that erupted with excitement anytime she made a move on the mat – was almost flawless while competing in the women’s 57kg (125.5 lbs) Olympic tournament.
BILES BROUHAHA: NBC announcer Al Trautwig says he regrets tweeting that the adoptive mother and father of US gymnastics star Simone Biles were not her parents. Four years ago, she received text messages telling her “the place for a monkey is in a cage”.
That was enough to hope for more, despite the unexpected loss of Sarah Menezes, who in 2012 brought home the Olympic gold with her for her country after beating the Olympic champion Alina Alexandra Dumitru of Romania in the women’s 48 kg judo match in London. It is supposed to have been “pacified” by police in recent years, but the gangs remain a powerful influence and – as in other favelas – neither the drugs nor the violence, nor the government neglect have ever completely gone away.
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. “Her story shows she has traversed life”.
Her win delighted a crowd that was patiently waiting for a local victor. “They can say: ‘I can do something good, look at her, she has a gold medal.’ She could be on the street right now”. In rugby, Australia’s women beat New Zealand to become the Olympics’ first rugby sevens champions, prompting a tearful departing haka by the beaten Kiwis.
Following her win, Silva burst into tears in front of a raucous home crowd and her achievement has seemingly caught the interest of the wider public.
International Golf Federation president Peter Dawson happily admitted it was certainly not a “random” draw which ensured world number 288 Da Silva tees off first at 7:30am local time, alongside Canada’s Graham DeLaet and South Korea’s Byeong Hun An. In the stands, numerous fans were weeping too.
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She won the gold, but it was all of theirs to share.
