- Adhemar da Silva
Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (
September 29 ,1927 –January 12 ,2001 ) is a former Brazilian athlete who competed in thetriple jump . He won twoOlympic gold medal s and set fourathletic world records , the last being 16,56 metres in1955 Pan American Games .He was born in
São Paulo , in a poor family, and began in the triple jump in 1947. Under the coaching of GermanDietrich Gerner , he soon showed his talent, breaking the national record and taking a place in the Brazilian athletics team to 1948 Olympics, where he only took 14th place, but at Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956, he became a two-time Olympic champion and world record holder.In 1959, Adhemar acted in the film "Orfeu Negro", by French director
Marcel Camus , which won theGolden Palm of theCannes Film Festival and anAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film .He was athlete of
São Paulo Futebol Clube , and because him, in the team coat there are 2 gold stars on his homage.References
* [http://www.cbat.org.br/atletas/adhemar.asp Adhemar Ferreira da Silva] in
Confederação Brasileira de Atletismo website
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