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 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.
By 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 14th 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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