São Paulo, Brazil – Brazil had its best ever performance at the Paralympic Games, ending its run in Paris with 89 medals: 25 gold, 26 silver and 38 bronze. Her record performance put the country in the top five of the medals table for the first time, finishing behind China, Great Britain, the United States and the Netherlands.
Brazil beat its previous best performance at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, where it won 22 gold medals and placed on 72 podiums, finishing in 7th place. At the London Games in 2012, the Brazilian team also finished 7th in the medal table, but with 21 gold medals and 47 medals in total.
Finishing in the top five of the medal table at the 2024 Paralympic Games was among the goals of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB), which brought to Paris the largest delegation in the country’s history with 280 athletes. Swimming and athletics were the sports in which the Brazilians stood out the most, with 26 and 36 medals respectively.
The big surprise came in judo, where Brazil led the way in medals, taking a total of eight podiums, surpassing the other Paralympic powers. The country also achieved good results in table tennis, taekwondo, powerlifting, canoeing, golaball and blind soccer.
For CPB president Mizael Conrado, the excellent results in Paris are the result of a strategic plan drawn up in 2017 and a change in the direction of the institution.
“This plan brings inclusion to the heart of our purpose. Inclusion becomes our mission. We changed the logic of sports development. We started going to the people, creating more projects for the development of Paralympic athletes,” he said.
According to Conrado, with the results of these development projects, future results will be even better. Another goal of the CPB was to increase and expand the participation of women in major events. In Paris, 45% of the Brazilian team was made up of women, who accounted for most of the gold medals (13 out of 25).
“If we look at China [the country that led the medal board in Paris]more than 60% of the podium finishes were achieved by women. I believe that following this logic of creating opportunities and conditions, women will increasingly take the lead and most likely surpass the results of men,” said Conrado.
Historical point
In addition to the record number of medals and breaking into the top five for the first time, Brazil achieved other historic achievements at the Paris Games.
On the penultimate day of competition, the country had its most successful day ever at a Paralympics: 16 medals were won on September 7, including six gold, three silver and seven bronze.
The Brazilians also set six world records, five in track and field and one in swimming, along with eight Paralympic records, three in track and field, one in canoeing, two in powerlifting and two in swimming. The country also won its first medals in three sports: badminton, shooting and triathlon.
Swimmer Carol Santiago won three gold medals in Paris, becoming the woman with the most gold in Brazilian history. She now has six gold medals and 10 podium finishes overall.
However, the outstanding athlete was swimmer Gabriel Araújo, known as Gabrielzinho, who won three gold medals in the three events he competed in Paris.
Gabrielzinho has a congenital condition that prevents the normal formation of arms and legs, and he discovered swimming through a physical education teacher at his school. Talented, charismatic and humorous, he captivated the French people and was voted the star of the Paralympic Games by France 2, the country’s biggest broadcaster.
During the closing ceremony, the president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet, also mentioned Gabrielzinho among the “magnificent things” that happened during the Games.
