Brazil finished the Paris Olympics with 20 medals: 3 golds, 7 silvers, and 10 bronzes. Considering that the expectation was for Brazil to bring home 7 gold medals, it can be said that the performance fell short of expectations.
The Brazilian Olympic Committee itself set the goal of improving numbers and breaking records in Paris. The country was just one medal shy of the 21 won in Tokyo in 2021. However, it was far from the 7 golds it also won in the Japanese capital and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Nevertheless, Brazil managed to maintain around 20 medals and fought for many others. According to data from the COB itself, there were 11 competitions in which Brazilians finished in fourth or fifth place.
The most important aspect was the increase in the participation of Brazilian women.
Even before the start of the Paris Olympic Games, Brazilian women were already making history. For the first time in over a hundred years of the country’s participation in the Olympics, the Brazilian delegation had more women than men: 163 against 126, which corresponds to 56.4% of the total. By the end of the event, they showed that they were not there just to fill the numbers. Most of the twenty podiums won by the delegation were the result of women’s efforts.
To start, Brazil’s three gold medals in Paris were won by women: Beatriz Souza in judo, Rebeca Andrade in artistic gymnastics, and the duo Duda and Ana Patrícia in beach volleyball. Twelve of the twenty medals were awarded to female athletes. A thirteenth podium, that of the judo teams, was not 100% the work of women, but they had significant participation. Three years ago, in Tokyo, female podiums represented 43% of Brazil’s total. In Rio, there were eight, 26%.
Interestingly, they also stood out in other medal categories: there were more silvers (four against three) and more bronzes (five against four) for women than for men.
But even with this advancement of women, the final taste is a bit bitter, with disappointment mainly due to the low number of golds. The COB itself could not explain what happened, blaming “waves” and other climatic setbacks.
There is already a kind of warning signal for Los Angeles 2028.
Sources: ESPN Brasil and Agência Brasil