Athlete, feminine noun: Brazilian women in the Olympic Games

Abstract

The book Athlete, feminine noun: Brazilian women in the Olympic Games, published in 2006 by Oscar Valporto, puts together life stories of twenty Olympic athletes, made from personal interviews telling the trajectory of Brazilian athlete women, since their first participation in 1932, in the Olympic Games of Los Angeles, to the conquest the first Olympic medal, in Atlanta, in 1996. In their narratives, these pioneer women show us their sporting carriers, with emphasis in social barriers each one had to face. The book is divided in four parts. It begins with the trajectories of pioneers of sport in swimming and athleticism and finishes with our athletes of the first generation conquering Olympic medals. This is the l ist of women considered as pioneers: Maria Lenk and Mary Dalva – swimming; Wanda and Aída dos Santos – athleticism. The author also emphasizes the Olympic athletes Maria Elisa (swimming), Isabel (volleyball); Luisa Parente (gymnastics) and Soraia (judo). The book traces the path of our queens of beach volleyball: Jackie, Mônica, Adriana, Sandra, Adriana Behar and Shelda, and closes down with women who conquered medals in team sports: Paula and Janeth (basketball), Leila and Virna (volleyball); Pretinha and Marta (soccer). The study is addressed to lovers of national sport and history and, although not in the academic style, has the merit of pioneering in registering the trajectories of our athletes, thus offering to professionals of physical education the possibility of conducting relevant discussions about gender and sport in their classes.