Brazilian Paralympic Committee celebrates success in Paris
Brazil concluded its participation in the Paris Paralympics with a record-breaking performance, securing 25 golds, 26 silvers, and 38 bronzes, and achieving fifth place in the medal standings. This marked Brazil's best finish in the history of the Games.
Mizael Conrado, president of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB), attributes the result to the strategic planning implemented since 2017 and a shift in the organization's approach.
“This plan has served as our guide for the past eight years and has led us to this point. It places inclusion at the center of our mission. We transitioned from viewing inclusion as a reaction to making it our mission. We’ve redefined our approach to sports development by engaging directly with people, creating the Paralympic Festival, the Paralympic School, and the School Camp, [which brings together top athletes from the School Paralympics for a period of high-performance training],” said Mizael at a press conference on Sunday (Sep. 8), at the Casa Brasil Paralímpico in Saint-Ouen, a city near Paris.
“We’ve established an athlete’s pathway that begins in school and can lead to podium finishes, as seen here in Paris. We lost two years of the cycle due to the COVID pandemic; otherwise, we would have seen more young athletes emerging from these programs. With the ongoing results from our training projects, we anticipate even better outcomes,” added the CPB president.
The plan announced in 2017 aimed for Brazil to win between 75 and 90 medals in Paris and to rank among the top eight most decorated delegations. At the Tokyo Games, Brazil won 72 medals, including 22 golds, setting a new record for the country.
Another objective was to boost female participation in major events. In Paris, women made up approximately 42 percent of Brazil’s team and secured the majority of the country’s gold medals, with 13 out of 25. Notable highlights of the campaign included Paralympic champions Mariana D'Andrea (weightlifting), Jerusa Geber (athletics), and Carol Santiago (swimming).
