We are all Silva: Rafaela wins 1st gold in Brazil at the Rio Olympics

With impressive focus, born in the favela Cidade de Deus lines rivals and takes the Brazilian public to delirium with sensational achievement for the country's sport

The first gold medal in Brazil at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro belongs to a carioca, born in a slum and who started to fight in a social project. Rafaela Silva is the new lightweight champion (57kg) of judo, after beating Mongolian Sumiya Dorjsuren, current leader of the world ranking, this second (08).

“I trained a lot after London-2012 because I didn't want to repeat the suffering [was eliminated at the premiere, when delivering an illegal scam]. After my defeat, many people criticized me, said I was a disgrace to my family, for my country. And now I'm an Olympic champion”, said Rafaela shortly after the fight. “In 2014, I was discredited, but, now, I trained as much as I could and the result came”.

Brazilian national team coach, Mário Tsutsui said that the most difficult fight was the semifinal. “Against Romanian, which was decided only on the golden score [the sudden death of judo], it was tense. Rafaela felt the pressure to fight for an Olympic final. But when we saw the Mongolian beating the Japanese, we were confident and we knew she had a very good chance of winning the gold medal ”, commented – Dorjsuren won the current Olympic champion, Kaori Matsumoto.

Rafaela, vibrates and celebrates in the arms of the family.

With your family and friends in the stands, Rafaela grew up with the public vibration and reversed an uncomfortable history: in five fights against the Asian, had won only once, last year. “Even so, we knew that the Mongolian was not perfect. We worked hard on her and we knew that she opened her guard for counter-blows. That was how the victory came”, explicou Tsutsui.

At Arena Carioca 2, Rafaela Silva beat the Mongolian by a wazari. The advantage allowed her to control the fight, including keeping the rival away and receiving two penalties.