The greatest Brazilian Olympic athlete and born in São Paulo, SP, two-time Olympic champion and world record holder in triple jump, and responsible for the rebirth of this sport. The son of a railroad worker and a laundress, he did not get rich from his achievements and trained only two or three times a week, only at lunchtime, as he worked and studied hard. Since the age of 16, he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, even at the time of his greatest glory, an unthinkable attitude for current athletes. He began his athletic career in his city and became interested in the triple jump (1947) influenced by Ewald Gomes da Silva, São Paulo athlete and leader who later became president of the São Paulo Federation and later of the Brazilian Federation of Athletics.
He got his first victory at the age of twenty, right after his debut, when he reached the 13.05m mark in the triple jump, in a evolution so impressive that it led German coach Dietrich Gerner to start talking about international success and record worldwide... He was twice South American record holder with 15.51m (1949) and 15.83m (1950), and broke the world record for the first time at the Fluminense Futebol Clube stadium, in Rio de Janeiro, with 16.01m (1951). He was Pan American Champion (1951) and South American Champion (1952). At the Olympics in Helsinki, Finland (1952), he won the gold medal by breaking the Olympic record and setting two new world marks: 16.12m and 16.22m. At the Pan American Games held in Mexico (1955) he achieved his best mark: 16.56m, which remained unbeatable for five years.
He won another gold medal for Brazil in Melbourne, Australia (1956), by setting a new Olympic record, with 16.35m. Five-time South American champion and three-time Pan-American champion (1951, 1955 and l959) and Portuguese-Brazilian champion, in Lisbon (1960), he was ten times Brazilian champion, having more than 40 titles and trophies international. Even failing at the Rome Games (1960), he obtained recognition from the Italian fans, who cheered him inside the Olympic stadium even after disqualification. Later, he discovered the cause of the poor performance: he had the onset of tuberculosis. Practically self-taught, he revolutionized the triple jump by turning his attention to the second jump, until then only a boost to the third, and was far superior to competitors for years. A sculptor graduated from the Federal Technical School of São Paulo (1948), he also graduated in Physical Education at the Escola do Army, Law at the University of Brazil (1968) and Public Relations at the Faculty of Social Communication Casper Libero (1990).
Polyglot, he was Cultural Attaché at the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria (1964-1967). He was an actor in the play Orfeu da Conceição (1956), by Vinicius de Moraes and in the French-Italian film Orfeu do Carnaval (1962), which won the Oscar for best foreign film. He ended his life working for the State of São Paulo, organizing national and international Athletics competitions. He received (1993) the title Hero of Helsinki, along with Emil Zatopek. He was awarded by the COB (2000) with the Olympic Merit. His last public appearance was at the last edition of the São Silvestre Marathon, in São Paulo, at the turn of the year, when he delivered the prizes to the winners. He died a victim of cardiopulmonary arrest in São Paulo and was buried in the Chora Menino Cemetery, in the North Zone of the city of São Paulo.
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Figures copied from the brazilianmusic website:
http://www.brazilianmusic.com/adhemar/indexp.html
Source: Biographies - Academic Unit of Civil Engineering / UFCG
Order A - Biography - Brazil School