Brazil’s president hails ‘unprecedented result’ as 25-year-old wins first Winter Olympic medal for country and continent
H
undreds of thousands of international tourists are expected to descend on Brazil over the next few days for carnival. But you didn’t need to go further than the Dolomites on Saturday to see somebody performing samba on a raised platform.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen entered Brazilian sporting folklore by snaring his country’s, and continent’s, first medal at a Winter Olympics – and a gold at that. The reigning champion, Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, who leaves these Games without a title after being fancied for multiple successes, was no match for Pinheiro Braathen in the men’s giant slalom in Bormio.
Brazilian TV heralded this moment by overlaying on to its coverage the same music that ran alongside Ayrton Senna’s grand prix victories in Formula One. “This unprecedented result shows that Brazilian sport has no limits,” wrote the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “It broadens the horizon of sport in our nation.” It has been pointed out that anyone aged 23 or under in Brazil has now seen their country win a Winter Olympic gold medal but not a football World Cup.
