Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
is the most popular sport in almost all South American countries. There are a wide range of
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
played in the continent of
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Popular sports include
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
,
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
,
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
beach volleyball
Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...
,
motorsports
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
and
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
. South America held its first Olympic Games in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
. Two years prior to this, major cities in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
hosted the
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...
.
Association football
South America and Europe share the supremacy over the sport, as all national team winners in
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
history and all winning teams at the
FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...
have come from these two continents. Brazil holds the world record at the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
with five titles in total.
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
has three titles and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
have two. So far four South American nations have hosted the tournament including its first edition in Uruguay (
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
). The other three were Brazil (
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
),
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
(
1962
Events January
* January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
* January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism.
* January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...
), and Argentina (
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
).
South America is home to the longest running international football tournament;
Copa América
The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...
, which has been regularly contested since
1916
Events
Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* ...
. Uruguay have won the Copa America a record 15 times, beating hosts Argentina in 2011 to reach 15 titles (they were previously equal on 14 titles each during the 2011 Copa America).
About the
FIFA Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...
, Brazil is the biggest winner of all time with 4 titles. At the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, Brazil has 2 titles, Argentina 2, and Uruguay 2. In the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Argentina has 6 titles and Brazil 5. In the
FIFA U-17 World Cup
The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...
, Brazil has 4 titles.
The continent has produced many of the most famous and most talented players in history, including
Pelé
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...
,
Garrincha
Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha (, "little bird"), was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a right winger. He is widely regarded as one of ...
,
Ronaldo
Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People
Notable people known as Ronaldo include:
As ...
Romário
Romário de Souza Faria Figueiredo (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and a former professional footballer. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he scored over 750 goals and was ...
,
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...
Nílton Santos
Nílton dos Santos (; 16 May 1925 – 27 November 2013) was a Brazilian footballer who primarily played as a wingback. At international level, he was a member of the Brazil squads that won the 1958 and 1962 World Cups.
Regarded as one of th ...
Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...
,
Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine Professionalism in association football, professional footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for club Paris Saint-Germain F.C ...
Mario Kempes
Mario Alberto Kempes Chiodi (; born 15 July 1954) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker or attacking midfielder. A prolific goalscorer, he finished as La Liga's top goalscorer twice with Valencia and amassed 11 ...
Enzo Francescoli
Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of Uru ...
Obdulio Varela
Obdulio Jacinto Muiños Varela (; September 20, 1917 — August 2, 1996) was a Uruguayan football player. He was the captain of the Uruguay national team that won the 1950 World Cup after beating Brazil in the decisive final round match popular ...
Iván Zamorano
Iván Luis Zamorano Zamora (; born 18 January 1967) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of Chile's most recognized footballers, along with Marcelo Salas, Leonel Sánchez and Elias Figueroa ...
,
Marcelo Salas
José Marcelo Salas Melinao (; born 24 December 1974), nicknamed ''Matador'' (due to his goalscoring celebrations), ''El Fenómeno'' and ''Shileno'', is a Chilean former footballer who played as a striker. Salas is considered the best strik ...
Radamel Falcao
Radamel Falcao García Zárate (born 10 February 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Rayo Vallecano and often captains the Colombia national team. Nicknamed "''El Tigre''" (Spanish for ''The Tige ...
Carlos Gamarra
Carlos Alberto Gamarra Pavón () (born 17 February 1971) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He captained the Paraguay national team at international level and was for a long time the most capped player ...
Arsenio Erico
Arsenio Pastor Erico Martínez (30 March 1915 – 23 July 1977) was a Paraguayan football striker. He is the all-time highest goalscorer in the Argentine first division, with 295 goals according to Argentine Football Association. Previously ...
Teófilo Cubillas
Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was selected as Peru's greatest ever player in an IFFHS poll, in which he was also included in the world's Top 50. H ...
,
César Cueto
César Augusto Cueto Villa (born 6 June 1952 in Lima) is a Peruvian former attacking midfielder, nicknamed "El Poeta de la zurda" (English: the Left-footed Poet), recognized as one of the most talented players that Peruvian soccer has produced. ...
Football variations: futsal, beach soccer, footvolley
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
invented some variations of football, such as
beach soccer
Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand.
Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...
and
footvolley
Footvolley ( pt, Futevôlei in Brazil, ''Futevólei'' in Portugal) is a sport which combines aspects of beach volleyball and association football.
Footvolley was created by Octavio de Moraes in 1965 in Brazil. Footvolley combines field rules tha ...
.
Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...
, having been invented in
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, neighboring Brazil, is also widely practiced in the country, mainly in the state of
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...
, neighboring Uruguay.
In
futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
are among the greatest world powers. Before the Fifa Era, there were three World Cups, organized by the former International Federation of Indoor Soccer (Fifusa), where Brazil was world champion twice, and Paraguay once. Brazil is the biggest champion of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, with 5 titles, with Argentina having a title in 2021. Falcão is the most renowned male Brazilian player.
In
beach soccer
Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand.
Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
are among the world's greatest powers, with Brazil being the biggest champion of the
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the ''Beach Soccer World Champions ...
, with 5 titles. In addition, it has nine world titles from the former competition organized by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), the
Beach Soccer World Championships
The Beach Soccer World Championships was the premier international beach soccer competition contested by men's national teams between 1995 and 2004. It was replaced by the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
The tournament took place annually in Braz ...
.
Footvolley
Footvolley ( pt, Futevôlei in Brazil, ''Futevólei'' in Portugal) is a sport which combines aspects of beach volleyball and association football.
Footvolley was created by Octavio de Moraes in 1965 in Brazil. Footvolley combines field rules tha ...
is a recreational sport widely practiced on Brazilian beaches, mainly in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, where it was invented.
Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
is particularly popular in South America. One of the most important achievements was the
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
. Argentina won the
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
two times (
1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
,
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
) and the Olympic bronze 3 times.
Oscar Schmidt
Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (born February 16, 1958) is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player. He is also commonly known as Oscar Schmidt in Spain, where he played for Fórum Valladolid for the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, ...
is the most renowned male Brazilian player. The Brazil women's basketball team is also one of the best teams in the world having won the
1994 FIBA World Championship for Women
The 1994 FIBA Women's World Championship was the 12th edition of the FIBA Women's World Championship, an quadrennial international tournament played by women's basketball teams in FIBA. It was hosted in Australia from 2 to 12 June 1994 at fiv ...
, obtained the Olympic runner-up in 1996, and with three players in the Hall of Fame:
Hortência Marcari
Hortência Maria de Fátima Marcari (born September 23, 1959) is a former basketball player who is often considered to be one of the greatest female basketball players in Brazil, along with Paula, and regarded by specialists as one of the world's ...
Janeth Arcain
Janeth dos Santos Arcain (, born April 11, 1969 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a retired Brazilian professional women's basketball player. She played in the United States for the Houston Comets in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) fr ...
. Also, in Venezuela, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Paraguay, basketball is widely played & very popular.
The FIBA World Cup took place in South America seven times: Argentina (
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
), Brazil (
1954
Events
January
* January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany.
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...
,
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
), Chile (
1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
), Uruguay (
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
) and Colombia (
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
).
Volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
is the second most popular sport in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. The Brazilian men's team has 6 Olympic medals (3 gold, 3 silver), 7 World Championship medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze) and has won nine World Leagues, while Brazil's women's team has won two gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games, in addition to four runners-up and a third place at World Championships. In the 1980s,
Peru women's national volleyball team
The Peru women's national volleyball team was one of the dominant forces in women's volleyball in the 1980s, culminating in the silver medal won at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
The team's nickname is ''Las Hijas del Sol'' (''Su ...
was one of the strongest in the world, winning an Olympic silver medal in 1988, as well as a silver medal in 1982 and a bronze in 1986 at the World Championships.
Argentina men's national volleyball team
The Argentina national volleyball team represents Argentina in international men's volleyball and is controlled by the Argentine Volleyball Federation (''Federación del Voleibol Argentino'' in Spanish, and abbreviated "FeVA").
The Argentina te ...
has won 2 Olympic bronzes in 1988 and 2020, and a bronze at the 1982 World Championship.
Beach Volleyball
Brazil is one of the strongest countries in the world in
beach volleyball
Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...
, a sport widely practiced in the country due to its long coastline, mainly in Rio de Janeiro and in the Northeast Region of the country. Until the 2020 Olympic Games, the country had 2 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze in the men's modality, and 1 gold, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes in the women's modality. Argentina, Chile and Venezuela usually send representatives to the Olympic Games, but without any significant results so far. In world championships, in addition to several titles obtained by Brazilians, the Argentines
Mariano Baracetti
Mariano "Mono" Joaquín Baracetti (born July 12, 1974 in Buenos Aires) is a beach volleyball player from Argentina, who won the world title at the 2001 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Klagenfurt, Austria partnering Martin Conde. He repr ...
and
Martín Conde
Martín Alejo Conde (born 25 August 1971 in Mar del Plata) is an Argentina, Argentine beach volleyball player who won the world title at the 2001 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Klagenfurt, Austria, partnering with Mariano Baracetti. He r ...
were world champions in 2001.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, vale tudo, and mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
is one of the most popular sports in Brazil.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...
originated in Brazil in the 1910s, and emphasizes ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds. Hélio Gracie had a rather small build and changed jiu-jitsu (originating from
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
) to be used by anyone in a real fight situation. The belt progression system goes in the following order: White, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black, Red-black, and Red. Gracie Jiu Jitsu became known internationally in the 1990s, due to the very skilled fighters in the Gracie family, namely Hélio Gracie, Royce Gracie, and Rickson Gracie, which are also responsible for spreading the practice of
vale tudo
Vale Tudo (; en, Everything Goes/Everything Allowed), also known No Holds Barred (NHB) in the United States, is an unarmed, full-contact combat sport with relatively few rules. It became popular in Brazil during the 20th century and would event ...
, meaning "anything goes", which evolved into mixed martial arts tournaments such as
PRIDE
Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
. Many Brazilian fighters have become significant figures in various mixed martial art tournaments abroad, some notable Brazilian fighters in these tournaments include Anderson Silva,
José Aldo
José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júniorhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/CI3oOc0VAAAr_iv.jpg (, born 9 September 1986), commonly anglicized as Jose Aldo, is a retired Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. He last competed in the Ultimate Fight ...
Mauricio Rua Mauricio may refer to:
*Mauricio (given name)
*Maurício José da Silveira Júnior (born 1988), Brazilian footballer known by the mononym Maurício
*Maurício (footballer) Maurício is the Portuguese variant of Mauricio (given name). The diminutive ...
,
Murilo Bustamante
Murilo Bustamante (; born 30 July 1966, in Rio de Janeiro) is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Middleweight Champion. He is one of the founders of the ''Brazilian Top Team'' and is the current leader. In addition to compe ...
Rafael dos Anjos
Rafael Souza dos Anjos (; born October 26, 1984) is a Brazilian American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former UFC Light ...
Lyoto Machida
(born 30 May 1978), is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and karateka, who currently competes in the Light heavyweight division. He formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was a former UFC Light ...
,
Alex Pereira
Alexsandro Pereira (born 7 July 1987) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. He currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Middlewe ...
and Amanda Nunes. Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay have already had some fighters in MMA, but to this day none of them have won the title of champion.
Handball
Handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
is a sport that came with German immigrants, which is very popular in schools around South America. It's the second most practiced sport in schools in Brazil. The
Brazil men's national handball team
Brazil national handball team is the national handball team of Brazil and is governed by the Confederação Brasileira de Handebol.
Competitions record Olympic Games
World Championship
Pan American Games
Pan American Championship
South ...
is considered the best in South America, with the
Argentina men's national handball team
The Argentina national handball team is the national handball team of Argentina and is controlled by the Argentina Handball Association.
Tournament results Olympic Games
World Championship
Pan American Games
Pan American Championship
Sout ...
being its biggest rival. The biggest highlight in South America, however, has been the
Brazil women's national handball team
The Brazil women's national handball team is the national team of Brazil. It is governed by the Confederação Brasileira de Handebol and takes part in international handball competitions.
History
In December 2013, ...
, which, in the 2013 World Championship, were crowned world champions for the first time. They also finished 5th at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Motorsports
South America have several drivers who won the
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
championship multiple times, including five-time champion Juan Fangio of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
Brazilian Grand Prix
The Brazilian Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio do Brasil), currently held under the name São Paulo Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio de São Paulo), is a Formula One championship race which is currently held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace ...
every year since 1973 and the Argentine Grand Prix has hosted Formula One on 20 occasions.
In Motos, South America had notable drivers as
Johnny Cecotto
Johnny Alberto Cecotto Persello (born 25 January 1956), better known as Johnny Cecotto, is a Venezuelan former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer and auto racer. He rose to prominence as a teenage prodigy in 1975 when he became the youn ...
,
Carlos Lavado
Carlos Alberto Lavado Jones (born May 25, 1956) is a Venezuelan former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix world championships from 1978 to 1992. Lavado is notable for winning two 250cc road raci ...
,
Alex Barros
Alexandre Barros (born October 18, 1970) is a Brazilian former professional motorcycle road racer who is a 7-time 500cc/MotoGP race winner and also a race winner in Superbike World Championship. After a long Grand Prix career, in 2006 he moved ...
,
Sebastian Porto
Sebastian may refer to:
People
* Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films and television
* ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film
* ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film
...
,
Martín Cárdenas Martín Cárdenas may refer to:
*Martín Cárdenas (motorcyclist) (born 1982), Colombian motorcyclist
*Martín Cárdenas (botanist) (1899–1973), Bolivian botanist
{{Hndis, Cardenas, Martin ...
and
Yonny Hernández Yonny Hernández may refer to:
* Yonny Hernández (baseball), (born 1998), Venezuelan professional baseball infielder
* Yonny Hernández (motorcyclist)
Yonny Hernández Vega (born 25 July 1988) is a Colombian motorcycle racer. He is the older br ...
. Also, South America has hosted the Moto GP in
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
(1977–1979),
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
(1987–1989, 1992; 1995–1997, 1999–2004 as Rio Grand Prix) and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
(1961–1963, 1981–1982, 1987, 1994–1995, 1998–1999, 2014–present).
The Dakar Rally is also hosted by South America from 2009 to 2019 (mostly in Chile and Argentina).
Tennis
South America has produced a number of talented tennis players such as Maria Bueno, the greatest South American tennis player, three-time
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
winner Gustavo Kuerten, four-time Grand Slam and Masters winner
Guillermo Vilas
Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...
Marcelo Rios
Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to:
* Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapi ...
, the first Latin American World number 1 in women tennis and the first Latin American to win a Grand Slam
Anita Lizana
Anita Lizana de Ellis (19 November 1915 – 21 August 1994) was a world No. 1 tennis player from Chile. She was the first Latin American, and first Hispanic person, to be ranked World Number 1 tennis player. Also, Lizana was the first Latin Am ...
Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...
,
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
winners
Gastón Gaudio
Gastón Norberto Gaudio (; born 9 December 1978) is an Argentine retired tennis player. He won eight singles titles and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 5 in April 2005. Gaudio's most significant title win came at the 2004 ...
Marcelo Melo
Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to:
* Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapi ...
Juan Sebastian Cabal
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
. Chile has already reached the quarterfinals three times.
Swimming
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
is the greatest South American power in swimming, competing on an equal footing with the world's powers in this sport, especially in men's swimming. Some of the greatest exponents of Brazilian swimming history are: César Cielo,
Ricardo Prado
Ricardo Prado (born 3 January 1965 in Andradina, São Paulo, Brazil) is an Olympic and former World Record holding medley swimmer from Brazil. He was one of the greatest swimmers in the history of Brazil and the best Brazilian swimmer in the 1 ...
,
Gustavo Borges
Gustavo França Borges (born December 2, 1972) is a Brazilian former competitive swimmer. He swam for Brazil in the Summer Olympic Games in: 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Borges has won the second-most Olympic medals of any Brazilian, with fouron ...
,
Fernando Scherer
Fernando de Queiroz Scherer (born October 6, 1974) is a Brazilian former international swimmer. He won the bronze medal in the 50-meter freestyle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and another bronze medal four years later in Sydney with ...
,
Thiago Pereira
Thiago Machado Vilela Pereira (born 26 January 1986) is a retired Brazilian international competition swimmer. One of the greatest swimmers in the history of Brazil, Pereira won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the 2012 ...
Bruno Fratus
Bruno Giuseppe Fratus (born 30 June 1989) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer. He won a bronze medal in the 50-metre freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In July 2021, Fratus became the first swimmer in history to swim the long course ...
Tetsuo Okamoto
Tetsuo Okamoto (20 March 1932 – 1 October 2007) was a Japanese–Brazilian Olympic swimmer.
Okamoto had asthma, and began to swim to treat it at 7 years old. However, it was only when he was 15 years old, and the coach Fausto Alonso arrived ...
,
Nicholas Santos
Nicholas Araújo Dias dos Santos (born 14 February 1980) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle and butterfly sprint events. He swims for Esporte Clube Pinheiros. He swam the 50-metre freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olympic ...
,
Felipe França
Felipe is the Spanish variant of the name Philip, which derives from the Greek adjective ''Philippos'' "friend of horses". Felipe is also widely used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil alongside Filipe, the form commonly used in Portugal.
Noteworthy pe ...
Kaio de Almeida
Kaio Márcio de Almeida (born 19 October 1984) is a Brazilian swimmer who specializes in the butterfly. He is also known by the reduced versions of his name: ''Kaio Márcio'', ''Kaio Márcio de Almeida'', ''Kaio Almeida'', or ''Kaio de Almeida' ...
,
João Gomes Júnior
João Luiz Gomes Júnior (born 21 January 1986) is a Brazilian breaststroke swimmer.
International career 2009–12
He was in the Brazilian national delegation who attended the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, where he competed in th ...
Ana Marcela Cunha
Ana Marcela Jesus Soares da Cunha (born 23 March 1992) is a Brazilian swimmer who specializes in the open water swimming marathon. She is considered one of the best open water swimmers in history, having obtained 14 medals in FINA World Aquatic ...
,
Etiene Medeiros
Etiene Pires de Medeiros (born 24 May 1991) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who participates in backstroke and freestyle events. Widely regarded as the best Brazilian woman swimmer of all time, Medeiros was the first Brazilian to win an ind ...
and
Poliana Okimoto
Poliana Okimoto (born March 8, 1983) is a Brazilian long-distance swimmer.
Career
She was at the 2002 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Moscow, where she finished 18th in the 800-metre freestyle.
She won the Travessia dos Fortes in 20 ...
.
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
was the main force on the continent until the 1960s, with historically important swimmers such as
Luis Nicolao
Luis Alberto Nicolao (born June 28, 1944 in Buenos Aires) is a retired butterfly swimmer from Argentina, who in 1962 twice broke the world record in the men's 100 metres butterfly (long course).
World records
Trained and coached by the winnin ...
,
José Meolans
José Martin Meolans (born June 22, 1978 in Córdoba) is a freestyle swimmer from Argentina, who won the world title in the 50 metre freestyle at the 2002 FINA Short Course World Championships in Moscow, Russia.
A year later he won 100m freesty ...
and
Georgina Bardach
Georgina Bardach Martin (born August 18, 1983 in Córdoba) is a swimmer from Argentina. At the 2002 FINA Short Course World Championships in Moscow, she finished third in the 400 m Individual Medley race. She also won the gold medal at the 200 ...
. Other countries like
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
Rafael Vidal
Rafael Antonio Vidal Castro (January 6, 1964 – February 12, 2005) was a Venezuelan competition swimmer, Olympic medalist and sports commentator.
Life
Vidal was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1964. At age 20, he became the first Venezuelan sw ...
and
Albert Subirats
Albert Subirats Altes (born September 25, 1986) is an Olympic and national record holding swimmer from Venezuela. He represented his homeland at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. At the 2007 World Championships, Subirats won Venezuela's firs ...
) and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
(with Kristel Kobrich) tend to reveal talent from time to time. Brazil hosted the
1995 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
The 2nd FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) was an international swimming meet held on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 30 November until 3 December 1995. The meet featured 32 events swum in a short course (25m) pool.
The United ...
and won the
2014 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
The 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) were held in Doha, Qatar on 3–7 December 2014. The Hamad Aquatic Centre in the Aspire Zone hosted the event.
Host selection
On 14 December 2010, FINA announced that Catania, Italy would host the ...
.
Athletics
South America has a number of historically important and some legendary athletes in track and field. In
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the following stand out:
Adhemar Ferreira da Silva
Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (September 29, 1927 – January 12, 2001) was a Brazilian triple jumper. He won two Olympic gold medals and set four world records, the last being 16.56 metres in 1955 Pan American Games. In his early career he also ...
Maurren Maggi
Maurren Higa Maggi (born June 25, 1976, in São Carlos) is a former Brazilian track and field athlete and Olympic gold medallist. She is the South American record holder in the 100 metres hurdles and long jump, with 12.71 seconds and 7.26 metre ...
,
Thiago Braz
Thiago Braz da Silva (born 16 December 1993) is a Brazilian athlete specializing in the pole vault who holds the Olympic record of 6.03 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics .
...
,
Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima
Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima (born 4 July 1969) is a Brazilian retired long-distance runner. He was born in Cruzeiro do Oeste, Paraná. While leading the marathon after 35 km at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was attacked on the course by Iri ...
,
João Carlos de Oliveira
João Carlos de Oliveira, also known as "João do Pulo" (May 28, 1954May 29, 1999) was a Brazilian athlete who competed in the triple jump and the long jump.
Born in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo De Oliveira won two Olympic bronze medals. His perso ...
Fabiana Murer
Fabiana de Almeida Murer (born 16 March 1981) is a retired Brazilian pole vaulter. She holds the South American record in the event with an indoor best of 4.82 m and an outdoor best of 4.87 m, making her the fourth highest vaulter eve ...
,
Alison dos Santos
Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos (born 3 June 2000) is a Brazilian athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. He is a bronze medalist at the 2020 Olympic Games, the 2022 World Champion and the third fastest athlete in the history of the e ...
,
Nélson Prudêncio
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
Claudinei Quirino
Claudinei Quirino da Silva (born November 19, 1970 in Lençóis Paulista) is a retired Brazilian Sprint (running), sprinter who competed primarily in 200 metres.
__TOC__
Career
He has been successful on regional and world level, and won a 200 ...
,
Vicente de Lima
Vicente Lenílson de Lima (born June 4, 1977) is a Brazilian sprinter specializing in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and the 4×100 metres relay.
De Lima represented Brazil at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The 37.90 seconds were not enough ...
,
André Domingos
André Domingos da Silva (born 26 November 1972 in Santo André, São Paulo) is a Brazilian athlete who competed mainly in the 100 and 200 metres.
He competed for Brazil in the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, United States ...
,
Édson Ribeiro
Édson Luciano Ribeiro (born December 8, 1972) is a Brazilian sprinter competing mostly in 100 metres. He has been successful on regional level, and won two Olympic medals with the Brazilian 4 x 100 metres relay team.
His personal best ...
,
Caio Bonfim
Caio Oliveira de Sena Bonfim (born 19 March 1991) is a Brazilian racewalker.
In the 20 km walk, he was a bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships and finished 4th at the 2016 Olympic Games. His mother, Gianetti Bonfim, was also an ...
,
Rosângela Santos
Rosângela Cristina Oliveira Santos (born December 20, 1990) is an American-born Brazilian track and field sprint athlete. Career
Santos represented Brazil at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She competed at the 4x100 metres relay together ...
Mauro Vinícius da Silva
Mauro Vinícius Hilário Lourenço da Silva, commonly known as Duda (born 26 December 1986) is a Brazilian long jumper.
He is the 2-time World Indoor champion, winning the gold medal at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turke ...
Caterine Ibargüen
Caterine Ibargüen Mena Order of Boyaca, ODB (born 12 February 1984) is a retired Colombian Sport of athletics, athlete competing in high jump, long jump and triple jump. Her notable achievements include a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, ...
,
Ximena Restrepo
Ximena Restrepo Gaviria (born March 10, 1969 in Medellín) is a former Colombian nationalized Chilean sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres.
With the time of 49.64 seconds she won a bronze medal in 400 metres at the 1992 Olympic Games, Co ...
,
Anthony Zambrano
Anthony José Zambrano de la Cruz (born 17 January 1998) is a Colombian sprinter. He won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships in the 400 metres, setting the new Colombian national record of 44.15 seconds.
He was also a finalist of ...
and
Sandra Arenas
Lorena Arenas Campuzano (born September 17, 1993 in Pereira, Colombia, Pereira, Colombia) is a Colombian racewalking, race walker. She won the silver medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the 20 kilometer race walk. She competed at the 2 ...
Jefferson Pérez
Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born 1 July 1974) is an Ecuadorian retired race walker. He specialized in the 20 km event, in which he won the first two medals his country achieved in the Olympic Games.
He won the gold medal at the 199 ...
, Argentina with
Delfo Cabrera
Delfo Cabrera Gómez (April 2, 1919 – August 2, 1981) was an Argentine athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1948 Summer Olympics in one of the most dramatic finishes in athletics history.
Biography
Born in Armstrong, Santa Fe Provi ...
,
Juan Carlos Zabala
Juan Carlos Zabala (October 11, 1911 – January 24, 1983), also known as "El Ñandú Criollo", was an Argentine long-distance runner, winner of the marathon race at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Biography
Zabala ran his first marathon at the end ...
Reinaldo Gorno
Reinaldo Berto Gorno (July 18, 1918 in Yapeyú – April 10, 1994 in Buenos Aires) was a long-distance runner from Argentina, who, behind Emil Zátopek, won the silver medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics, held in Helsinki, Finland. In 1954 ...
also contribute to the evolution of sport on the continent. The continent has a great tradition in competitions such as the
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
, and hosts important events such as the
Saint Silvester Road Race
The Saint Silvester Road Race ( pt, Corrida Internacional de São Silvestre) is a long-distance running event, the oldest and most prestigious street race in Brazil.
Regarded as the main international event in Latin American athletics, the Brazi ...
.
Boxing
Boxing is particularly strong in South America, with several world and Olympic champions born in the continent. In
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, the most historically important boxers are: Carlos Monzón,
Horacio Accavallo
Horacio Enrique Accavallo (14 October 1934 – 14 September 2022) was an Argentine professional boxer who competed from 1956 until 1967. He held the undisputed WBA and WBC flyweight titles between March 1966 to October 1968.Santos Laciar
Santos Benigno Laciar (born January 31, 1959), known familiarly as Santos Laciar and nicknamed Falucho, is an Argentine who was boxing's world flyweight and super flyweight champion.
Biography
Laciar was born in Huinca Renancó, in the province ...
,
Juan Martín Coggi
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish language, Spanish and Manx language, Manx versions of ''John (given name), John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronoun ...
Victor Galindez
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
Eder Jofre Eder may refer to:
People
*Eder (surname)
*Éder (given name), a Portuguese or Spanish given name
*Éder (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer Éder Citadin Martins
*Eder (footballer, born 1987), Portuguese footballer from Guinea-Bissau Ede ...
Robson Conceição
Robson Donato Conceição (born 25 October 1988) is a Brazilian professional boxer. He is a two-time super featherweight world title challenger, having challenged for the WBC title in 2021, and the unified WBC, WBO and '' The Ring'' titles in 2 ...
and Hebert Conceição were Olympic champions, and other Olympic medalists were
Servílio de Oliveira
Servílio Sebastião de Oliveira (born May 6, 1948 in São Paulo) is a former Brazilian Olympic bronze medalist . In 1968, he became the first Brazilian boxer ever to win an Olympic medal. It occurred at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. An ...
,
Yamaguchi Falcão
Yamaguchi Falcão Florentino (born 24 January 1988) is a Brazilian boxer, currently a professional and a former holder of the World Boxing Council Latino Middleweight Title.Esquiva Falcão
Esquiva Falcão Florentino (born 12 December 1989) is a Brazilian professional boxer. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships and silver at the 2012 Olympics.
Early life
Falcão was born in Vitória, Espírit ...
Adriana Araújo
Adriana Dos Santos Araújo (; born 4 November 1981) is a Brazilian professional boxer. As an amateur she won a bronze medal in the lightweight division at the 2012 Olympics and qualified for the 2016 Olympics at the same weight.
Boxing career ...
and
Beatriz Ferreira
Beatriz Iasmin Soares Ferreira (; born 9 December 1992) is a Brazilian boxer.
She won a medal at the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.
She represented Brazil at the 2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known ...
.
Judo
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
is one of the greatest world powers in judo, a sport developed in the country thanks to its large Japanese community. The greatest exponents of the sport until today were
Aurélio Miguel
Aurélio Fernández Miguel (born March 10, 1964) is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic champion, and later politician. Among his best sporting achievements are his gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and a bronze medal at the 1996 Summ ...
,
Sarah Menezes
Sarah Gabrielle Cabral de Menezes (born March 26, 1990) is a judoka from Brazil. In Judo at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 48 kg, 2012, she became the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in judo, after defeating the reigning ...
and
Rogério Sampaio
Rogério Sampaio Cardoso (born September 12, 1967 in Santos) is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.Douglas Vieira
Douglas Vieira (born June 17, 1960) is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic medalist. Among his best sporting achievements is his silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), oft ...
,
Tiago Camilo
Tiago Henrique de Oliveira Camilo (born 24 May 1982) is a judoka from Brazil, who won the silver medal in the lightweight (−73 kg) division at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He also won a gold medal at the 2007 World Judo Championships, and was ...
,
Carlos Honorato
Carlos Eduardo Honorato (born 9 November 1974 in São Paulo) is a judoka from Brazil, who won the silver medal in the middleweight (90 kg) division at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. In the final he was defeated by Holland's ...
, and the Olympic bronze medalists
Chiaki Ishii
(born 1 October 1941 in Ashikaga, Japan) is a Japanese Brazilian judoka, who won Brazil's first Olympic medal in judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.
Career
Ishii trained judo since a very young age, at a dojo loca ...
Walter Carmona
Walter Carmona (born 21 June 1957 in Sao Paulo) is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic medalist. He placed 5th at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and won a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los ...
,
Henrique Guimarães
Henrique Carlos Serra Azul Guimarães (born September 9, 1972 in São Paulo) is a male judoka from Brazil. He won the bronze medal in the men's half lightweight (– 65 kg) division at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia ...
,
Leandro Guilheiro
Leandro Marques Guilheiro (born August 7, 1983) is a Brazilian male judoka. He won the bronze medal in the lightweight (<73 kg) division at the
,
Flávio Canto
Flávio Vianna de Ulhôa Canto (born April 16, 1975 in Oxford, England) is a Brazilian judoka who competed in Men's 81 kg Judo.
He won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
He is founder and president of the Instituto Reação, and ...
,
Ketleyn Quadros
Ketleyn Lima Quadros (born 1 October 1987) is a Brazilian judoka. She won the bronze medal in the 57 kg weight class at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and became the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic medal in an individual sport.
Personal l ...
,
Felipe Kitadai
Felipe Kitadai (born July 28, 1989) is a judoka from Brazil. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and a gold at the 2011 Pan American Games. He also won gold medals six consecutive times in the Pan American Games Judo Championships: at 20 ...
,
Mayra Aguiar
Mayra Aguiar da Silva (born August 3 1991) is a Brazilian judoka. She was a bronze medallist in three consecutive Olympics, 2012, 2016 and 2020. She is also three-time world champion (2014, 2017, 2022). She is the first Brazilian woman to win th ...
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, with judokas like
Paula Pareto
Paula Belén Pareto (born 16 January 1986) is an Argentine retired judoka and physician. She was the flag bearer for her country at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She competed at the 2020 Summer ...
, and in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, with judokas like
Yuri Alvear
Yuri Alvear Orejuela (born 29 March 1986) is a Colombian judoka, three times World Champion in her division.
Early life
Yuri was born in Jamundí which is a suburb of Cali, the third largest city in Colombia. Her father Arnuy is a builder a ...
.
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is very popular in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, especially in large urban centers. The country has internationally renowned skaters like Bob Burnquist, Sandro Dias,
Rayssa Leal
Jhulia Rayssa Mendes Leal (born 4 January 2008) is a Brazilian skateboarder who won a silver medal in women’s street skateboarding at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Skateboarding career
Leal was born and lives in Imperatriz, the second largest cit ...
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
is a country that shows a certain degree of development in skateboarding, having sent representatives like Angelo Caro Narvaez to World Championships and the Olympics.
Surfing
Surfing is very popular in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. The country has progressively evolved to become one of the biggest forces in the sport in the world.
Fábio Gouveia Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian.
The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...
reached number 5 in the world in 1992. In the 2010s, the Brazilian Storm appears, with several Brazilians getting closer to the world title, until
Gabriel Medina
Gabriel Medina Pinto Ferreira (born 22 December 1993) is a Brazilian professional surfer who won the 2014, 2018 and 2021 WSL World Championships. With 16 WSL Championship Tour (CT) event wins and 29 Final appearances under his belt, Medina is ...
conquers the same in 2014 and Adriano de Souza wins in 2015. In 2020 surfing ascends to the category of Olympic sport and
Ítalo Ferreira
Ítalo Ferreira (born May 6, 1994) is a Brazilian professional surfer hailing from a small community of Baía Formosa, in Rio Grande do Norte on the northeastern coast of Brazil. Ferreira is one of the most explosive surfers in the world, and is ...
becomes Olympic champion.
Filipe Toledo
Filipe Toledo (born April 16, 1995) is a Brazilian professional surfer who has competed on the World Surf League Men's World Tour since 2013. He’s a second-generation pro who grew up outside of Ubatuba, Brasil on the northeastern coast of the s ...
was also world champion, in 2022.
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
also has renowned surfers such as
Lucca Mesinas
Lucca Mesinas (born 20 April 1996) is a Peruvian surfer.
In 2020, Mesinas won the inaugural edition of the Gordo Barreda Cup, a tribute to Peruvian surfing legend Sergio Barreda.
He placed 7th overall at the 2021 ISA World Surfing Games, whe ...
Daiane dos Santos
Daiane Garcia dos Santos (born February 10, 1983) is a retired Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is the 2003 world champion on the floor apparatus. On doing so, she became the first black gymnast to ever win an event at the World Champio ...
Arthur Mariano
Arthur Nory Oyakawa Mariano (born 18 September 1993) is a Brazilian artistic gymnast and a member of the Brazilian national team. He participated in the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, placing fourth in the horizontal bar and 12th ...
,
Diego Hypólito
Diego Matias Hypólito (; born 19 June 1986) is a Brazilian gymnast, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion in the floor exercise. He is the first male gymnast from Brazil, and South America, to win a medal at the World Championships. He also won 6 ...
and Daniele Hypólito. In Chile, Tomás González reached 4th place in the floor and vault events at the 2012 London Olympics. In
rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coord ...
, the Brazilian team won an unprecedented bronze in the general event of the Athens, Greece stage of the
Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup
The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup is a competition for rhythmic gymnastics sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the few tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics officially organized by FIG, as well as the W ...
, held in March 2023.
Yachting and Equestrianism
Despite yachting and equestrianism being inaccessible sports for the general population, Brazil has a great tradition in yachting, and, to a lesser extent, but no less important, tradition in equestrianism. The biggest center for these sports in South America is
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
and its neighboring city
Niterói
Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...
Eduardo Penido
Eduardo Henrique Gomes Penido (born January 23, 1960) is a Brazilian sailor and Olympic champion. He won one gold medal in the ''470 Class'' with Marcos Soares at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no ...
,
Isabel Swan
Isabel Marques Swan (born November 18, 1983) is a Brazilian sailor. She won a bronze medal in Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 470 class, 470 class at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in Niterói, she ...
Marcelo Ferreira
Marcelo Bastos Ferreria (born 26 September 1965) is a Brazilian sailor and Olympic champion. He received a gold medal in the ''Star Class'' at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta with Torben Grael. He received a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer ...
Robert Scheidt
Robert Scheidt (born April 15, 1973) is a Brazilian sailor who has won two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze from five Olympic Games and a Star Sailors League Final. He is one of the most successful sailors at Olympic Games and one of t ...
,
Torben Grael Torben is a Danish variant of the given name Torbjörn.
People named Torben include:
*Torben Betts (born 1968), English playwright and screenwriter
*Torben Boye (born 1966), Danish former footballer
*Torben Frank (born 1968), Danish former footbal ...
Alexandre Welter
Alexandre "Alex" Welter (born 30 June 1953) is a Brazilian sailor and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal in the ''Tornado Class'' at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p ...
,
Bruno Prada
Bruno Prada (born 31 July 1971 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian sailor.
After sailing Optimists until the age of 14, he moved to the Laser class, where he was Brazilian and South American Junior champion and 7th at Youth Worlds in 1989, and the ...
and
Peter Ficker
Peter Ficker (born 8 June 1951) is a Brazilian sailor. He won a bronze medal in the '' Flying Dutchman Class'' with Reinaldo Conrad at the 1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Econo ...
. In equestrianism, the Gávea Hippodrome trained athletes such as
Rodrigo Pessoa
Rodrigo de Paula Pessoa (born 29 November 1972 in Paris, France) is a Brazilian equestrian specialized in show jumping. The son of fellow equestrian Nelson Pessoa, Pessoa is considered one of the most talented of his generation ...
and his father
Nelson Pessoa
Nelson Pessoa Filho (born December 16, 1935) is a Brazilian equestrian who competed in the sport of Show jumping. He was among the first Brazilian civilians to do well in the sport, as the military had dominated it in the Brazil of that era ...
, as well as Luiz Felipe de Azevedo; the country also has olympic medalists from São Paulo
Álvaro de Miranda Neto
Álvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto (born 5 February 1973), more commonly known as Álvaro de Miranda or "Doda" Miranda, is an Olympic-class Brazilian show jumping rider. He was married to Athina Onassis. He is president of the organizing co ...
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
also trains high-level athletes in yachting, with some Olympic medals.
Santiago Lange
Santiago Raúl Lange (born September 22, 1961 in San Isidro, Argentina) is an Argentine Olympic sailor and a naval architect.
Sailing career
He studied Naval Architecture at Southampton Collage of Higher Education (now known as Solent Universi ...
and Cecilia Carranza were Olympic champions in 2016, and the country still had 4 silvers and 5 bronzes in yachting by the 2020 games. The country has already won an Olympic silver in equestrian with
Carlos Moratorio
Carlos Alberto Moratorio (10 November 1929 – 7 March 2010) was an Argentine equestrian. He was born in La Cruz, Corrientes. Carlos won a silver medal in individual eventing at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Moratorio also competed at the 19 ...
.
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
won 2 Olympic silvers in 1952 in equestrianism, mainly with the help of Óscar Cristi.
Chess
Chess is a sport with many fans in South America. The continent has produced some great players such as Argentine Miguel Najdorf (known for the
Najdorf Variation
The Najdorf Variation ( ) of the Sicilian Defence is one of the most popular, reputable and deeply studied of all chess openings. ''Modern Chess Openings'' calls it the "Cadillac" or "Rolls-Royce" of chess openings. The opening is named after th ...
), and Brazilians
Henrique Mecking
Henrique Costa Mecking (born 23 January 1952), also known as Mequinho, is a Brazilian chess grandmaster who reached his zenith in the 1970s and is still one of the strongest players in Brazil. He was a chess prodigy, drawing comparisons to Bobby ...
(3rd best in the world in 1977) and
Luis Paulo Supi
Luis Paulo Supi (born October 10, 1996) is a Brazilian chess grandmaster. He became a grandmaster in 2017 by winning Magistral Acre and won the title of Brazilian Chess Champion in 2021. In addition to being a professional player, Supi is also a ...
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
is the most popular sport in
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. In
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, Baseball is very popular in their north region, and has been gaining popularity recently in the other regions of Colombia. A wide list of players from Venezuela and Colombia are in the major leagues in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Both countries are the only ones in this region to participate in the
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...
(plus Brazil) and the
Caribbean Series
The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...
.
Table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
is very popular and widely played in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, and the country has a considerable tradition in this sport. The greatest player in the history of the country is
Hugo Calderano
Hugo Marinho Borges Calderano (born 22 June 1996, in Rio de Janeiro) is a table tennis player from Brazil. In January 2022, he peaked at number 3 in the world rankings, becoming the greatest Americas player of all time.
He is the first-ever pl ...
, who reached number 3 in the world in 2022 (becoming the greatest
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
player of all time), and was the first South American to reach the quarterfinals of this sport at the Olympic Games. Other historically important players in the country are
Gustavo Tsuboi
Gustavo Tsuboi (born 31 May 1985, São Paulo) is a table tennis player from Brazil, he won three medals in double and team events in the Pan American Games. Along with Hugo Hoyama and Thiago Monteiro, Tsuboi was part of the winning team at the ...
,
Cláudio Kano
Cláudio Mitsuhiro Kano (18 December 1965 – 1 July 1996) was a Japanese Brazilian table tennis player who helped popularize the sport in Brazil and "spearheaded Brazilian table tennis in the 1990s".
Aged 17, he shared two gold medal, in me ...
,
Hugo Hoyama
Hugo Hoyama (born May 9, 1969) is a retired Brazilian table tennis player of Japanese origin who has won several medals in single, double and team events in the Latin American Table Tennis Championships.
Along with Gustavo Tsuboi and Thiago M ...
and
Bruna Takahashi
Bruna Takahashi (born July 19, 2000) is a Brazilian table tennis player. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics as part of the Brazilian team in the women's team event. At the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, she was seeded #5, and is ...
. The best players from
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
Horacio Cifuentes
Horacio Cifuentes (born 16 March 1998) is an Argentine table tennis player. He competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 ...
In taekwondo, in 1992, when it was still an Olympic demonstration sport, the Venezuelan
Arlindo Gouveia
Arlindo Inacio Gouveia Colina (born 22 December 1969 in Punto Fijo, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan athlete that competed in taekwondo. He won two medals in the Pan American Games in 1987 and 1991, as well as a medal in the 1990 Pan American Taekwond ...
was champion and
Adriana Carmona
Adriana Carmona (born December 3, 1972 in Puerto La Cruz) is a Venezuelan taekwondo practitioner and Olympic medalist.
Olympic Games
She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she received a bronze medal in the +67 kg class. ...
was a bronze medalist (later she would be a bronze medalist in 2004, officially). Another Venezuelan,
Dalia Contreras
Dalia María Contreras Rivero (born September 20, 1983) is a Venezuelan taekwondo practitioner. She won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in taekwondo. She also competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, finishing 8th in her weight class.
...
, was a bronze medalist in 2008. Brazilian
Natália Falavigna
Natália Falavigna da Silva (born May 9, 1984 in Maringá''Guia do Pan – XV Jogos Pan-Americanos''. Rio de Janeiro: Lance!, 2007) is a taekwondo athlete from Brazil. She finished in the fourth place in the women's 67-kilogram category in taekw ...
was a bronze medalist in 2008 and 4th place in 2004. Maicon Siqueira won bronze in 2016. Diogo Silva finished 4th in 2004 and 2012, and
Milena Titoneli
Milena Titoneli Guimarães (born 6 August 1998) is a Brazilian taekwondo fighter. She won the gold medal in the women's 67kg event at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and the 2021 Pan American Taekwondo Championships in Cancún, Mexico. ...
finished 4th in 2020. Argentina's biggest highlights are
Sebastián Crismanich
Sebastián Eduardo Crismanich (born 30 October 1986 in Corrientes) is an Argentine taekwondo athlete. He won the gold medal in the men's 80 kg division at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Sebastián has the distinction of being the second indi ...
Isaquias Queiroz
Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos (born 3 January 1994) is a Brazilian sprint canoeist who has competed since 2005. He is the only Brazilian athlete to ever win three medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games, and the third most decorated Brazil ...
is the best canoeist in the history of South America, being the only Olympic champion of this modality on the continent and adding a total of four Olympic medals until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Erlon Silva
Erlon de Souza Silva (born 23 June 1991) is a Brazilian sprint canoeist who competes in the 1000 m doubles event (C-2). He placed tenth at the 2012 Olympics and won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games. He won two more silver medals at the 2011 ...
also won Olympic silver for Brazil in canoeing.
Archery
Marcus Vinicius D'Almeida
Marcus Vinicius Carvalho Lopes D'Almeida (born January 30, 1998 in Rio de Janeiro), known as Marcus D'Almeida, is a Brazilian athlete who competes in recurve archery. World runner-up in 2021. In February 2023, he became the first Brazilian to le ...
, in the recurve bow category, is the greatest male
archery
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...
athlete in the history of South America, having been number 1 in the world in 2023, and world runner-up in 2021. The Chilean
Denisse van Lamoen
Denisse Astrid van Lamoen (born 12 September 1979) is a Chilean archer. In 2000, she became the first Chilean archer to compete at the Summer Olympics, but after failing a drug test in 2002 she left archery to study law. She later returned to t ...
won a world title in the recurve bow in 2011, and the Colombian Natalia Sánchez was a world bronze medalist in 2009. In the Compound bow (which does not participate in the Olympic Games), The Colombian
Sara López
Sara José López Bueno (born 24 April 1995), is a Colombian athlete who competes in compound archery. She first competed for the Colombian national team in 2011 Pre-Olympic event in Medellin, Colombia. She won medals at several editions of t ...
, multiple world champion, stands out.
Field Hockey
Very popular in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
World Cups
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
and
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
. At the Olympic Games, it won the silver medal in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
,
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
and
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, as well as bronze in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
and
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. ''Las Leonas'' also won the annual Champions Trophy on seven occasions, in
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
,
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
,
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
,
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
and the World League 2014-2015. Luciana Aymar is recognized as the best female player in the history of the sport, being the only player to have received the
FIH Player of the Year Award
The FIH Player of the Year Awards are awarded annually by the International Hockey Federation to the male and female field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield pl ...
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
and the bronze medal at the
2014 World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
on ten occasions and the
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
,
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
and
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
Yane Marques is the only person born in South America to win an Olympic medal in
modern pentathlon
The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...
(until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games), having also been the first person in Latin America to do so.
Rink Hockey
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
has won the world cup in 5 times.
Rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
is becoming popular in South America, following the recent successes of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
in recent
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...
competitions (3rd place in 2007 and 4th place in 2015). The popularity of the game has spread across the continent.
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, Guyana, Peru and Bolivia all have Rugby Federations.
Weightlifting
Weightlifting is popular in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and has been evolving in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Some of the top Colombian weightlifters are:
María Isabel Urrutia
María Isabel Urrutia Ocoró (born 25 March 1965) is a former Olympic weightlifting, weightlifter, athlete and politician from Colombia. She won the first ever gold medal for Colombia at the Summer Olympic G ...
Fernando Reis
Fernando Saraiva Reis (born March 10, 1990) is a Brazilian weightlifter. He competed at both the 2012 Summer Olympics
Cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
in Colombia became very popular with the beginning of the annual
Vuelta a Colombia
The Vuelta a Colombia (Spanish for ''Tour of Colombia'') is an annual cycling road race, run over many stages throughout different regions in Colombia and sometimes Venezuela and Ecuador during the first days of August. It is organized by the ...
race in 1951, followed by the annual
Clásico RCN
The Clásico RCN (Spanish for ''RCN Classic'') is an annual cycling road race that takes place over many stages through different regions of Colombia during October. It is organized by the Colombian Cycling Federation.
The event is sponsored b ...
starting in 1961. The triumphs of Martín Emilio "Cochise" Rodríguez in European cycling competitions increased the sport's popularity, which in turn helped to develop the
Colombian Cycling Federation
The Colombian Cycling Federation or FCC () is the national governing body of cycle racing in Colombia.
The FCC is a member of the UCI and COPACI.
External links
*
Cycle racing organizations
Cycle racing in Colombia
Cycling
Cy ...
. Rodriguez was followed by professional Colombian cyclists known as the "Colombian beetles", which include up to this date Luis "Lucho" Herrera,
Luis Felipe Laverde
Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (born 6 July 1979 in Urrao) is Colombian professional road bicycle racer for , having left the team. His best results are two stage victories in the Giro d'Italia, in 2006 and 2007.
Palmarès
;2001
: Pan American C ...
,
Fabio Parra
Fabio Enrique Parra Pinto (born November 22, 1959 in Sogamoso, Boyacá) is a retired Colombian road racing cyclist. Parra was successful as an amateur in Colombia, winning the ''Novatos'' classification for new riders or riders riding their fi ...
,
Víctor Hugo Peña
Víctor Hugo Peña Grisales (born July 10, 1974 in Bogotá) is a Colombian professional retired road racing cyclist. He last rode for the professional cycling team. In 2003, Peña became the first Colombian to wear the yellow jersey at the Tou ...
Mauricio Soler
Juan Mauricio Soler Hernández (born January 14, 1983 in Ramiriquí, Boyacá) is a Colombian former professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTour team . He competed in the Tour de France for the first time in 2007, winning st ...
. The "escarabajo" (beetle) nickname was coined by radio announcer José Enrique Buitrago, while watching
Ramón Hoyos
Ramón Hoyos Vallejo (26 May 1932 – 19 November 2014) was a Colombian road bicycle racer who won the men's individual road race at the 1959 Pan American Games. He represented his native country twice at the Summer Olympics; in 1956 and 1960. He ...
climb a hill ahead of French professional racer José Beyaert during the 1955 Vuelta a Colombia.
Colombian cycling has enjoyed a renaissance in the early 2010s, with Colombian riders enjoying international success. One of the factors cited for this success has been the establishment of the 4-72 Colombia cycling team (formerly known as Colombia es Pasión-Café de Colombia), which has developed several cyclists who have gone on to compete for UCI WorldTeam, UCI Worldteams. The government-backed Colombia-Coldeportes cycling team competed at the 2013 Giro d'Italia, and was the first all-Colombian team to do so for 21 years. The team aimed to secure UCI ProTeam status and compete in the Tour de France, however the team announced its disbanding in October 2015 due to the withdrawal of financial support from Coldeportes, the Colombian government's sports ministry. Riders who graduated to the UCI World Tour from the team included Esteban Chaves and Darwin Atapuma. High-profile riders emerging in this period include Nairo Quintana, Rigoberto Urán, Sergio Henao, Carlos Betancur and Mariana Pajón. The two main strongholds of the sport in Colombia are the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the centre of the country and Antioquia Department, Antioquia in the west, both being mountainous regions.
Some of the top Colombian cyclists are:
* María Luisa Calle, bronze medal winner in the
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
in Athens and World Champion.
*
Fabio Parra
Fabio Enrique Parra Pinto (born November 22, 1959 in Sogamoso, Boyacá) is a retired Colombian road racing cyclist. Parra was successful as an amateur in Colombia, winning the ''Novatos'' classification for new riders or riders riding their fi ...
, 3rd place in the tour de France, 1988
* Santiago Botero, Time trial world champion
* Martín Emilio "Cochise" Rodríguez, Hour world record holder and world champion in 4,000 m pursuit.
* Marlon Pérez, Youth World Champion in the points race, 1994
* Efraín Domínguez, Double world record in kilometer and 200 m pushed 1987
* Luis "Lucho" Herrera, "El jardinerito", Champion of the Dauphiné Libéré (1988, 1991) and Vuelta a España (1987), first non-European to win the Tour de France Mountains classification in the Tour de France, Mountains classification (1985)
* Martín Ramírez (cyclist), Martín Ramírez, Champion Dauphiné Libéré 1984
* Alfonso Flórez Ortiz, Champion Tour de l'Avenir 1980
*
Víctor Hugo Peña
Víctor Hugo Peña Grisales (born July 10, 1974 in Bogotá) is a Colombian professional retired road racing cyclist. He last rode for the professional cycling team. In 2003, Peña became the first Colombian to wear the yellow jersey at the Tou ...
, one of only three Colombian cyclists to have ever worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de France (2003).
* Rigoberto Urán, silver medal winner in the Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race, Men's Olympic Road Race, 2012 Summer Olympics, second place in the Giro d'Italia (2013, 2014), second place in the Tour de France (2017).
*Mariana Pajón, gold medal winner at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's BMX, women's BMX event, gold medal winner at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's BMX, women's BMX event.
*Carlos Oquendo, bronze medal winner at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's BMX, men's BMX event.
*Nairo Quintana, 2nd place overall in the 2013 Tour de France, Tour de France, 2013, 1st place overall 2013 Tour of the Basque Country, Tour of the Basque Country, 2013, 1st place overall 2013 Vuelta a Burgos, Vuelta a Burgos, 2013, 1st place overall Giro d'Italia 2014, winner of 2015 Tirreno–Adriatico, Tirreno–Adriatico 2015, 1st place overall Vuelta a España 2016.
*Edwin Ávila, double track cycling world champion in the points race (2011,2014).
*Esteban Chaves, second place in the Giro d'Italia (2016)
*Carlos Ramirez (BMX rider), Carlos Ramirez placed third at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's BMX, men's BMX
*Iván Sosa, 1st place overall in the 2018 Vuelta a Burgos
*Fernando Gaviria wearer of the Yellow Jersey in the 2018 Tour de France
*Egan Bernal winner of the general and youth classifications in the 2019 Tour de France and 2021 Giro d'Italia
Golf
Golf is growing in popularity in both Brazil and Argentina but is not widely played elsewhere in South America. Culture of Bolivia #sports, Bolivia has the highest tournament class golf course in the world.
Jai Alai
Jai alai or Basque pelota is played in many parts of South America. Although this sport is mostly played in Spain and France, there are federations of Basque ball in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, Bolivia,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, Ecuador,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. Due to the origin of the game, there are many good players who are Basques, either natives or from the Basque diaspora.Pilota vasca (campeonatos) at Auñamendi Encyclopedia
Cricket
Cricket is the most popular sport in Guyana. Apart from there, is mostly played in the Southern Cone, especially in areas settled by English people. Although a number of South American nations have teams, none of them are major, except for the Guyana national cricket team, which plays in inter-regional competitions in the Caribbean. Guyana is also an independent nation represented by the West Indies cricket team, the only team in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
with Test cricket, Test status.
South American Cricket Championship is a limited overs cricket tournament played since 1995 between the national teams of the continent with North American teams also often invited to participate. It is currently played annually but until 2013 was usually played biennially.
Variants of street cricket are also played, such as bete-ombro in Brazil.
Polo
Polo is popular in some parts of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
.
Games
* South American Games
* South American Masters Games
* South American University Games
* South American Schools Games
* South American Transplant Games
* Bolivarian Games
* ALBA Games
* Ibero American Games
* Indigenous Peoples' Games
* South American Deaf Games
* South American Blind Games
See also
*Sport in Africa
*Sport in Asia
*Sport in Europe
*Sport in North America
*Sport in Oceania
References
{{Americas topic, Sport in
Sport in South America,