The girl wins gold for City of God
Rafaela Silva, who grew up in famously poor neighbourhood, is new Brazilian hero
RIO DE JANEIRO— The girl from the favela — she will always be the girl from the favela, probably — stood on the podium and she listened to her country’s anthem at these home Olympics, which are not for the favelas. Rafaela Silva grew up about five miles from here, in Cidade de Deus; it is a famously bad neighbourhood which inspired the book City of God and the 2002 film.
Silva stood on the podium decked out in bright yellow Nike gear in an arena full of bellowing, glowing Brazilians, listening to the anthem, at the centre of it all. She wiped her eyes.
“Of course we always feel pressure,” the 24-year-old Silva said through an interpreter after winning Brazil’s first gold of the Games in the 57kilogram women’s judo division. “When I leave home in the morning, my family and friends would say, ‘Let’s see if you can bring a medal home for Brazil.’ ”
Four years ago she was a medal contender and was disqualified in London for what was deemed an illegal move. She didn’t react well; whatever racism was spewed her way, she saw enough of it. She fired back on Twitter; it attracted attention. There was one racist comment in particular, just one.
It has clearly burned in her for four years. Gold medal around her neck, she brought it up. Nobody else did.
“It was very difficult to overcome the problem from 2012, but I insisted that judo was my life,” Silva said through a translator.
“I counted on my coach, and on God, and support from my family and the Brazilian people. People would taunt me by saying that the place for you is for a monkey in a cage, but I insisted my place is in sports, it’s in judo. That’s what I dedicate my life to.”
The story is familiar enough that maybe they will make a movie about it one day. Little girl grows up in the bad neighbourhood, one of the worst. She fights. Her older sister fights, too. They fight boys. Their parents move them a mile away, where it’s a little better.
A coach starts them in judo. They are good. Her older sister, Raquel, gets pregnant at 15; Rafaela keeps fighting.
She gets better. She wins a world championship. She fails in London. The racism drives her to tears, to solitude. She tweets thanks to those who supported her and writes, “I could have done better. But we have 2016.” She waits four years. Afterward, the arena stood and took pictures and cheered so loud, chanting campeão. Champion. The Brazilian press mobbed her and she seemed so small, braces on her teeth. She would answer and once in a while she would laugh, throwing her head back.
“The fans have always encouraged me, especially the kids from my own community, and City of God,” Silva said.
“I had a dream and those kids have their dreams, too. And I’ve always insisted on pursuing my dream, especially since four years ago. If I can set an example for kids in the City of God, that they can believe in their dreams and find their dreams through sports, do it. And I hope to be an example for them and I think I can be.
“I was always climbing up walls, over walls to get a kite that might have fallen out of the sky. And I was always playing sports with the boys. I was kind of a tomboy. But I had to fight in the midst of that, in order to overcome and not be defeated as a child.” She was asked if more money should have been spent on Rio’s poor than this festival for the rich; she answered, essentially, that anybody should be proud to represent Brazil and hopefully more poor kids would. Rio followed a proud Olympic tradition: it displaced some 60,000 residents in working-class favelas to make way for the Olympic park and eventually, a condo district. The total population of Rio’s favelas is estimated to be over 11 million. One of their children just won Brazil’s first gold medal.
It is beautiful. It is complicated. It might change something, for someone. It might not.
They love her, though. One Brazilian volunteer, a young black man, whispers why it matters. She is black; she was poor, she is a woman. She did it.
“A very special athlete, who came from such a poor part of Rio,” said Felipe Freitas, a 34-year-old from Rio with a long beard and a wide smile.
“It’s very emotional, because it’s what’s hoped for, for her. It was very powerful. People were screaming, were crazy, out of love here.”
Felipe is a chemical engineer, and he didn’t grow up in the favelas. He is asked: Does it matter more that she did?
“It matters more because we know that’s someone who has to fight for life, and for sports. It matters much more.”
Rafaela Silva won gold five miles from home and a world away.