Gymnast Rebeca Andrade, 22, and canoeist Isaquias Queiroz, 27, won the Brasil Olímpico Award, which is organized by the COB (Olympic Committee of Brazil) and appoints the best Brazilian athletes of the year.
Rebeca, from São Paulo, surpassed aquatic marathon runner Ana Marcela Cunha and skater Rayssa Leal in the female choice. And the Bahian Isaquias got the better of surfer Italo Ferreira and boxer Hebert Conceição among men.
Distributed since 1999, the event had for the first time a majority of Northeastern athletes nominated for the award, five out of six competitors. At the Tokyo Olympics, the region also played an unprecedented role, winning four gold medals.
Now, athletes are asking for greater investment in sports in the Northeast, so that athletes do not have to move to other cities, as many need to do in order to achieve their best performance.
“Wow, I have not received any letter from the Government of Bahia [após o ouro em Tóquio] or anything. That was very sad for me,” stated Isaquias Queiroz, winner in the individual canoe C 1,000.
He recalled that he had to leave home at age 15 to improve his performance and that the process leaves behind several promises of the local sport that are unable to follow this path.
“I realized that, as much as we have had results, it seems that it was not so valued. By the population, yes, we were very well congratulated, they had a lot of affection. For me, okay, I’ve already made my life, but I want to see a younger athlete, having to leave Bahia at the age of 15, as I used to, and spend my whole life out of his state to train…”, he added.
“I hope it has encouraged the governments of our region to look with affection at us, at sport, and provide an adequate structure so that we don’t just have to be born in the Northeast, be raised into adolescence and move into adulthood to other places,” stated boxer Hebert Conceição, a native of Salvador, Bahia.
Isaquias competed for the award another five times and reached his fourth victory (also won in 2015, 2016 and 2018).
He gave his first strokes in the city where he was born, Ubaitaba, in the interior of Bahia, a place that is still a training center for athletes in the sport.
After three medals at Rio-2016 (two silvers and one bronze), in Tokyo he won his first gold in the Olympics. He is currently a Flamengo athlete and trains in Lagoa Santa (MG).
Rebeca Andrade is from Guarulhos from São Paulo. In Tokyo, she became the first Brazilian gymnast to win an Olympic medal. And there were two straight away: gold in the vault and silver in the all-around.
In 2021, she was also world champion in jumping and uneven bars. In this year’s Brazilian Championship, it was gold in the all-around.
Also for the first time, the Brasil Olímpico Award ceremony was held in the Northeast. It took place in Aracaju, Sergipe, and brought together several personalities of Brazilian sport.
Both the nominees and the winner were chosen by an electoral college of 230 people, made up of journalists, officials, athletes, former athletes, sponsors and other figures related to the sport.
The event also added four athletes to the Brazilian sports hall of fame: basketball player Magic Paula, 59, silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games; Adhemar Ferreira da Silva, who died in 2001 at the age of 73, two-time Olympic champion in the triple jump (1952 and 1956); Aída dos Santos, 84, the only Brazilian to compete in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, in the high jump; basketball player Wlamir Marques, 84, bronze in Rome-1960 and Tokyo-1964; swimmer Tetsuo Okamoto, who died in 2007 at the age of 75, bronze in the 1,500 m freestyle in Helsinki-1952; , Walmir Marques and canoeist Sebastián Cuattrin, 48, gold in the Pan of Rio de Janeiro-2007.
There was also a popular vote for the athlete’s fan award. Volleyball player Fernanda Garay, with 41.52% of the votes, was the winner. The Adhemar Ferreira da Silva trophy, given to former athletes, went to basketball player Janeth Arcain.
So far, the region that dominated the athlete of the year award was the Southeast. Athletes in the region are 60% of the 138 nominees from 1999 to date, with more than half of the winners.
The Northeast is the second region with more competitors, just over 18%, just ahead of the South, with 16%. Among the winners, the order is inverted: 10 southerners and 7 northeasterners.
The only region that has never had a nominee is the North. Brazilians born abroad, but naturalized, competed for the award three times — Argentine tennis player Fernando Meligeni won, in 2003.
Check out all award winners
- 1999: Maurren Maggi and Gustavo Keurten
- 2000: Leila Barros and Gustavo Keurten
- 2001: Daniele Hypólito and Robert Scheidt
- 2002: Daniele Hypólito and Nalbert Bitencourt
- 2003: Daiane Santos and Fernando Meligeni
- 2004: Daiane Santos and Vanderlei Cordeiro Lima
- 2005: Natalia Falavigna and João Derly
- 2006: Laís Souza and Giba
- 2007: Jade Barbosa and Thiago Pereira
- 2008: Maurren Maggi and Cesar Cielo
- 2009: Sarah Menezes and Cesar Cielo
- 2010: Fabiana Murer and Murilo Endres
- 2011: Fabiana Murer and Cesar Cielo
- 2012: Sheilla Castro and Arthur Zanetti
- 2013: Poliana Okimoto and Jorge Zarif
- 2014: Kahena Kunze / Martine Grael and Arthur Zanetti
- 2015: Ana Marcela Cunha and Isaquias Queiroz
- 2016: Rafaela Silva and Isaquias Queiroz
- 2017: Mayra Aguiar and Marcelo Melo
- 2018: Ana Marcela Cunha and Isaquias Queiroz
- 2019: Beatriz Ferreira and Arthur Nory
- 2020: There was no award due to the pandemic
- 2021: Rebeca Andrade and Isaquias Queiroz
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