Brazil made its Paralympic Games début at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, sending representatives to compete in track and field, archery, swimming and wheelchair basketball. The country has competed in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since. Brazilians have won a total of 307 Paralympicmedals, of which 88 gold, 115 silver and 104 bronze. This places the country 23rd on the all-time Paralympic Games medal table. Brazil's first delegations experienced little success. No medals were won in 1972, and the country's only medal in 1976 was a silver, in the men's pairs in lawn bowls. There were no medals either in 1980, but Brazilian Paralympians found notable success as from 1984, where they obtained their first gold: M. Ferraz won five silver medals and one gold in track and field; Marcia Malsar took three medals in running, of which one gold; Luis Claudio Pereira won four medals, of which two gold, in track and field; as did Amintas Piedade. Swimmer Maria Jussara Matas obtained three medals, of which one gold, while Marcelo Amorim won four medals, also in swimming. Pereira won three of Brazil's four gold medals in 1988, the fourth coming from swimmer Graciana Moreira Alves. In 1992, four Brazilian athletes each won a gold medal in track and field, while the country's two gold in 1996 were won in swimming and Judo. Da Silva took another gold in 2000, adding to Brazil's four gold in track and field and one in swimming that year. The 2004 Games saw the country's best result to date, with fourteen gold medals, of which five in athletics. Swimmer Clodoaldo Silva became Brazil's most successful Paralympian in history, winning six gold medals in the pool, and Brazil also won the men's football 5-a-side competition, defeating Argentina in a penalty shoot-out in the final. In 2008, athletics provided another four gold medals, boccia two, Judo one, and swimming eight. In football, Brazil finished fourth in the 7-a-side event, with losses to Ukraine and Iran in the final round. The country did, however, successfully defend its Paralympic title in 5-a-side football, defeating China 2-1 in the final. Brazil débuted at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, sending two athletes. This made Brazil the second tropical nation ever to have competed at the Winter Paralympics, after Uganda and the third country in South America to have done so, the others being Chile and Argentina.
