Rafaela Silva
From Cidade de Deus to Olympic gold at home
- Born
- April 24, 1992, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Nationality
Brazil- Height
- 169 cm (5′7″)
- Stance
- Left
- Style
- Uchi mata thrower
- Weight
- 57 kg, 63 kg
- Active
- 2009–present
- Status
- Active · age 34
The medals
2016 Olympic gold, world titles 2013 and 2022 (2019 world bronze annulled)
The story
afaela Silva grew up in Cidade de Deus, the Rio de Janeiro favela, where her father enrolled her at seven in Flávio Canto's Instituto Reação to keep her away from street fights. After a world silver in 2011 and a painful disqualification for an illegal leg grab at London 2012, she became Brazil's first female world champion in Rio in 2013. Three years later, in the same city, she beat Mongolia's Sumiya Dorjsuren to win Olympic gold at 57 kg. A positive test for fenoterol in 2019 brought a two-year ban and cost her that year's Pan American gold and world bronze. She came back to win a second world title in 2022 and a mixed-team Olympic bronze in 2024, and she still competes, now at 63 kg.
- Olympic champion, 57 kg (2016)
- World champion, 57 kg (2013, 2022)
- Pan American Games champion, 57 kg (2023)
- Olympic mixed-team bronze (2024)
- Brazilian Sportswoman of the Year (2016)
Defining matches
- 2012LOSSvs Hedvig Karakas (London Olympics; disqualified for an illegal leg grab)
- 2013WINvs Marti Malloy (World Championships 57 kg final, Rio)
- 2016WINvs Sumiya Dorjsuren (Rio Olympic 57 kg final, at home)
- 2022WINvs Haruka Funakubo (World Championships 57 kg final, Tashkent)
Silva throws uchi mata from the left, so practise your best entry against both same-side and opposite-side grips. Her London disqualification is a rules lesson for cross-training students: a leg grab that scores in wrestling can lose you a judo match, so know the ruleset before you compete.
