Diogo Silva

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Medal record
Men's Taekwondo
Pan American Games
Gold Rio de Janeiro 2007 68 kg
Bronze Santo Domingo 2003 68 kg

Diogo André Silvestre da Silva (born on March 7, 1982[1] in São Sebastião, São Paulo [2]) is a taekwondo athlete from Brazil. He finished in the fourth place in the men's 68-kilogram category in taekwondo at the 2004 Summer Olympics on August 27. Silva failed to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[3]

Silva was raised in Londrina, Paraná, and entered sports following a suggestion of his mother, which wanted him to enter an academy to stop fighting in the street. She wanted judo, but Silva entered taekwondo because he wanted to fight "like the actors in fighting movies".[1] He cited as influences Jet Li and Jackie Chan, the latter being star of his favorite movies, Rumble in the Bronx and Rush Hour.[4]

Silva frequently protests against the lack of support of his sport, allegating to receive only $600 reais "which come late, only between three and three months" from the taekwondo confederation, and having to spent R$5000 from his own pocket to train and compete in Europe.[5]

[edit] Achievements

Diogo Silva won two Pan American Games medals, bronze in Santo Domingo 2003 Gold in Rio de Janeiro 2007. He also received the Bronze in the 1998 World Youth Taekwondo Championship, [2] and Gold in two South American Games.[6]

[edit] 2004 Summer Olympics

Diogo competed for the first time in the Olympics in 2004, when he finished in the fourth place in the competition. He was defeated in the quarterfinals by Iranian Hadi Saei Bonehkohal. At the repechage, Silva defeated Italian Carlo Molfetta and Gabriel Sagastume of Guatemala, but was beaten by South Korean Song Myeong-Seob in the Bronze medal match. [4]

At the Bronze match, Silva brought with him a Black Panthers glove, because he wanted to protest against the lack of support of his sport in Brazil.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Diogo Silva (Portuguese). UOL. Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
  2. ^ a b Guia do Pan - XV Jogos Pan-Americanos. Rio de Janeiro: Lance!, 2007
  3. ^ TAEKWONDO É A 18ª MODALIDADE COM ATLETAS BRASILEIROS GARANTIDOS NOS JOGOS OLÍMPICOS DE 2008 (Portuguese). Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro (2007-12-10). Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
  4. ^ a b Diogo Silva deixa bronze escapar em duelo com sul-coreano (Portuguese). UOL (2004-08-27). Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
  5. ^ Taekwondo brasileiro pede mais dinheiro e reclama dos árbitros (Portuguese). UOL (2007-08-27). Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
  6. ^ Profile of Diogo Silva and Débora Nunes (Portuguese). UOL. Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
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