Glorious Leaps

In 1952 in Helsinki, Adhemar was continuously cheered by the public
on a memorable day in which he broke the world record
for triple jump four times in a row and ended up getting the gold medal.

Elma Lia Nascimento

His dream was to become a soccer ace. For the boy with thin legs born in the neighborhood of Casa Verde in São Paulo on September 27, 1927, this would never happen. But Adhemar Ferreira da Silva would become famous anyway twice winning an Olympic gold medal in the triple jump. He started his training in jumping at age 18. He won his first prize in March, 1947, with a jump of 13.05 m, then breaking his personal best two months later with a 14.22 m jump.

There followed a series of prizes and medals: São Paulo champion, then winner of the Athletics Brazil Trophy. Guided by German coach Dietrich Gerner, he first participated in the Olympics in 1948, in London. He came in 14^th place, however. His superb talent would be recognized in the next two Olympic Games. He won the Olympic gold medal for triple jump in Helsinki, Finland, in 1952 (16.22 m) and again in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956 (16.35 m).

Da Silva was the only Brazilian who was able to twice become an Olympic champion even though Brazil has participated in the Olympics since 1920. The present world record in the triple jump belongs to British Jonathan Edwards (18.29 m). American Kenny Harison who jumped 18.09 m is the present Olympic record holder.

Adhemar died January 14 from cardiac arrest at age 73. The triple-jump champion was buried to the sound of the National Anthem at the Chora Menino cemetery in São Paulo in the Imirim neighborhood (north zone), in the same tomb where his wife and his son had been buried. His body was carried by a fire truck in a 9-km procession through downtown São Paulo. Among the 500 or so people who came for the funeral was Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the president of COB (Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro—Brazilian Olympic Committee)

Adhemar was born the son of railroad worker Antônio Ferreira da Silva and domestic servant Augusta Nóbrega da Silva. The athlete started to develop all of his potential at the São Paulo Futebol Club. Adhemar himself liked to say how he got interested in the sport that would make him an Olympic champion: "One night, I saw an athlete practicing for a different kind of sport. I asked what is it called? Coach Evald Gomes da Silva told me it was the triple jump. I told him I'd like to try. Evald gave me a few explanations and I made my first jump: 12.90 m. He was impressed and called Gerner (Dietrich Gerner, the German coach)." He was 20 years old by then.

From then on, Gerner would be his coach and mentor. In 1952 in Helsinki, Adhemar was continuously cheered by the public on a memorable day in which he broke the world record for triple jump four times in a row and ended up getting the gold medal. Around 70,000 spectators gave him a standing ovation screaming his name: "Da Silva, da Silva, da Silva." After he got his medal, the judge asked him to go around the field to salute the public in the bleachers. Some people believe that his gesture gave origin to the Olympic tour, the habit of athletes going around the stadium to greet the audience.

Adhemar was praised for the elegance with which he ran and jumped and for his graceful movements, flights and landings. Tuberculosis ended his career in 1960. The habit of smoking acquired at age 16 had already damaged his lungs.

The Olympic champion confessed that one of the mains reasons he practiced sports was to maintain his physical appearance, and this vanity followed him till the end. He had a special appearance as Death in Black Orpheus, the 1958 Marcel Camus's movie that won the Cannes Golden Palm and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film. When the athlete died he was still in very good shape and didn't show his age.

Unlike many of his fellow athletes, Adhemar gave great importance to academic life graduating in Law, Physical Education, Public Relations and Arts. He also became fluent in six languages, English, French, Italian and Spanish, among them. During the '50s and '60s he was a columnist for daily newspaper Última Hora. In several Olympic Games he worked as a TV commentator. The gold medallist was the cultural attaché at the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, between 1964 and 1967.

As a way to pay his debt to athletics that gave him so much satisfaction, as he used to say, Da Silva helped promote several projects, including a showcase example in Ponta Grossa, state of Paraná, in which poor communities received sports complexes from city hall. He used to say: "Sport, especially among the poor, is the sole and best way for social advancement and for escaping violence and drugs."

Very active until the end, he led the UniSant Anna Sports Coordination from 1996, where he helped create the Program to Help Sports, a plan to assist promising athletics students in the fields and also in the classroom. Just last year he had joined the National Commission of Athletes, a group created by Sports Minister Carlos Melles, to define the federal policy on sports. Melles called Adhemar one of his gurus. "The first thing I did when I accepted the Sports Ministry was to call Adhemar and Pelé for a talk," he said. "Adhemar was my number one helper in the commission of athletes."

Even though he was not forgotten by Brazil and Brazilians, Adhemar used to say that he was best known overseas. In some countries he was even pictured on postage stamps. In May the athlete had received the Olympic Order, the International Olympic Committee medal given only to the best athletes of all times. A new Brazilian sport medal will be named after Adhemar and the COB president announced that a sports arena would be built his name.

When the International Olympic Committee paid homage to him in Sydney, Australia, during the 2000 Olympic Games, he commented: "I am happy to be so remembered. I was afraid that this would only happen after my death. Then, all that would happen would be for someone to name an avenue after me."

All the Gold

1920—Guilherme Paraense (shooting)

1952—Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (track and field)

1956—Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (track and field)

1980—Alexandre Welter e Lars Bjorkstrom (yachting)

1980—Marcos Soares e Eduardo Penido (yachting)

1984—Joaquim Cruz (track and field)

1988—Aurélio Miguel (judo)

1992—Men volleyball

1992—Rogério Sampaio (judo)

1996—Jacqueline e Sandra Pires (beach volleyball)

1996—Robert Scheidt (yacthing)

1996—Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira (yachting)

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