João Ricardo Vieira (born July 28, 1984, in

Itatinga Itatinga is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 20,921 (2020 est.) in an area of 980 km2. The elevation is 845 m. Its name comes from the Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (also spe ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC 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 ...

), is a Brazilian professional

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

who specializes in

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." To recei ...

. Since 2013, he has been a top contestant on the

Professional Bull Riders The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization based in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. In the U.S., PBR events have been televised on CBS and CBS Sports Network since 2012. In 2013, the ...

(PBR) circuit, qualifying for the PBR World Finals every year since then. Since 2022, he has ridden for the Texas Rattlers during the PBR Team Series season.

Career

Vieira was the 2013 PBR Rookie of the Year. He is featured in the

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six-part

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Fearless Fearless or The Fearless may refer to: Psychology * Lack of fear * Courage or bravery Film, television and audio Film * ''Fearless'' (1978 film), an Italian film directed by Stelvio Massi * ''Fearless'' (1993 film), an American drama directed ...

'' on Brazilian professional bull riders. He won the bull riding title at the 2019 and 2020 editions of

The American Rodeo The American Rodeo is an annual event that has taken place during the first weekend in March since 2014 in Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities regi ...

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. In 2020, he won the Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

and rose to the #1 PBR ranking in the world for a second time, the first being in 2015. This occasion also marked the first time the new trophy for this event, a miniature replica of

Arturo Di Modica Arturo Di Modica (January 26, 1941February 19, 2021) was an Italian-American sculptor, widely known for his ''Charging Bull'' sculpture that he left outside the New York Stock Exchange between pre-dawn police patrols on December 15, 1989. Engl ...

's ''

Charging Bull ''Charging Bull'', sometimes referred to as the ''Bull of Wall Street'' or the ''Bowling Green Bull'', is a bronze sculpture that stands on Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway just north of Bowling Green (New York City), Bowling Green in the Finan ...

'' sculpture, was presented to the winning rider at the event. Vieira was second in the PBR world standings heading into the 2020 PBR World Finals. A few days before the start of the event, Vieira posted a video to his

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and

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account saying that he had tested positive for

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, and as a result would not be able to compete at the World Finals. He still ended up finishing 2nd in the PBR world standings that year. The day after the conclusion of the 2022 PBR World Finals, the inaugural PBR Team Series season draft was held at Texas Live! in Arlington, Texas. Vieira was selected to ride for the Texas Rattlers. In late September 2022, the Texas Rattlers won the event at Thunder Days in

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; the hometown event of rival team, the Missouri Thunder. Two weeks later, the Rattlers won their own hometown event at Rattler Days in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. The very next weekend, the Rattlers won their third event in a row at Ridge Rider Days in

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the la ...

; the hometown event of rival team, the Arizona Ridge Riders. The Rattlers ended up finishing in third place at the conclusion of the inaugural PBR Team Series season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vieira, João Ricardo Bull riders Brazilian sportspeople Living people 1984 births