Lucelia Ribeiro, 29, won her third gold medal in women's karate at the Pan American Games, which made her the first Brazilian female to become a three-time champion in an individual sport at the competition.
"This conquest has a very special taste, it was a childhood dream that worked out," said the winner of the over-60kg division.
In her childhood, Ribeiro was encouraged to take ballet classes, as the other eight-year-old girls were. One day, when her ballet teacher did not show up, she attended her cousin's karate class at the same gym, and instantaneously fell for the sport, which led her to quit ballet.
A change that did not rely on her mother's consent at first, especially because all her classmates, with whom she would exchange kicks and punches, were boys. The young karateka had to practice in secret for three months, before her mother acknowledged the trick.
She achieved the highest place on the podium for the first time at the Pan Am Games in 1999, in Winnipeg, Canada. At the time, she had been recently promoted to the national team, and her winning the gold was a great surprise.
In the 2003 Games, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Ribeiro did not let fans down in their expectations over a follow-up victory.
To win at the edition hosted in Rio meant more than the confirmation of her being a record-breaking sportswoman, but also the chance to celebrate at home.
"Each medal has a story," stressed Ribeiro, who admitted that the idea of being the only Brazilian woman to hold three individual Pan Am golds served as a motivator, once all athletes pursue the breaking of records. In women's sports, only the national handball team has achieved the mark in the country.
Following the victory, the fighter got a Hollywood kiss from boyfriend Douglas Brose, who also takes part in the Brazilian squad.The two run a social project funded by one of Ribeiro's sponsors, in the countryside of Minas Gerais state, Brazil's southeast.
"Maybe we can get to mold future champions there," the karateka wondered.
Source: Xinhua
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