Adhemar da Silva
Adhemar Ferreira da Silva was a Brazilian triple jumper. He won two Olympic gold medals and set four world records in athletics, the last being 16.56 metres in 1955 Pan American Games. In his early career he also competed in the long jump, placing fourth at the 1951 Pan American Games.Biography
Da Silva was born in São Paulo, in a poor family, and began competing in the triple jump in 1947. Under the coaching of German Dietrich Gerner, he soon showed his talent, breaking the national record and qualifying for the Brazilian team to 1948 Olympics, where he placed only 8th. However, at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, he became a two-time Olympic champion and world record holder and the only Brazilian athlete to have won gold in two consecutive Olympics until the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London. There, the Brazilian women's volleyball squad defended their title, obtained four years earlier in Beijing, making six of their members consecutive Olympic champions.
He was a member of the São Paulo Futebol Clube, and because of him, the team coat has two gold stars above the emblem. He also competed for Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama from 1955 to 1959.
In 1959, da Silva acted in the film Orfeu Negro, portraying Death. It won the Golden Palm of the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
De Silva made his final Olympic appearance in Rome in 1960, finishing 14th. In 2012 he was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame.
