Pedro Henrique "Pepe" Gonçalves da Silva (born 12 April 1993 in

Ipaussu Ipaussu is a municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 15,069 (2020 est.) in an area of 210 km². References

Municipalities in São Paulo (state) {{SaoPauloState-geo-stub ...

) is a Brazilian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2009.

Early life

Raised in

Piraju Piraju is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 29,970 (2021 est.) in an area of 504.5 km². The elevation is 646 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (a ...

, da Silva got interested in canoeing after seeing the Brazilian team that would participate 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), ...

practice in his city. He joined a social project that taught the sport in the

Paranapanema River The Paranapanema River (Portuguese, ''Rio Paranapanema'') is one of the most important rivers of the interior of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The river forms most of the boundary between the states of São Paulo and Paraná. Course From s ...

and got moved to sailing for a year due to his low stature, but his abilities in the kayak soon convinced his teachers. Once moved from sprint to slalom, Gonçalves won his first Brazilian championship in 2011, and nearly qualified for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

- missing the qualifying time by 0.13 seconds.

Career

At the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

, in his first participation in Pans, he obtained the silver medal in the K1 category. In the same year, he won bronze in the

2015 World Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom Championships The 2015 ICF World Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom Championships took place in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil from 22 to 26 April 2015 under the auspices of the International Canoe Federation (ICF). It was the 17th edition of the competition for Juniors (U18) a ...

. Gonçalves won a bronze medal in the Extreme K1 event at the 2019 World Championships in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. He also won the overall

World Cup 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 ...

title in Extreme K1 in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. Gonçalves competed at two Olympic Games. He finished 6th in the K1 event at the

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 ...

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 ...

, the best result the country ever had in this sport. He also competed at the delayed

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 Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, where he finished 19th in the K1 event after being eliminated in the semifinal. At the

2022 South American Games The XII South American Games (Spanish: ''XII Juegos Suramericanos Asunción 2022'') was a multi-sport event held between 1–15 October 2022 in Asunción, Paraguay. The Games were organized by the South American Sports Organization, the Paraguaya ...

, he obtained two gold medals, in K1 and Extreme. At the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2023, links=no), officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, s ...

he obtained a silver medal in the K1 event.

World Cup individual podiums

¹ Although the K1 cross events were contested, no World Cup points were awarded :

² World Championship counting for World Cup points

Personal life

He lives in

Foz do Iguaçu Foz do Iguaçu (''Iguazu River Mouth'') () is the Brazilian city on the border of Iguaçu Falls. The city is the 7th largest in the state of Paraná. The city's population is approximately 258,000. It is approximately 650 km (400 mi) we ...

, where he trains and studies physiotherapy.

Controversy

During the 2016 Olympics, he made news for being brought by diver Ingrid de Oliveira to her bedroom, causing tension between Oliveira and her partner Giovanna Pedroso as both would compete in the women's 10-meter synchronized platform dive the next day.

References

External links

*
Pedro Enrique Gon DA SILVA
at CanoeSlalom.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Goncalves, Pepe 1993 births Living people Brazilian male canoeists Sportspeople from São Paulo (state) Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Brazil Pan American Games medalists in canoeing Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil Canoeists at the 2015 Pan American Games Canoeists at the 2019 Pan American Games Canoeists at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games Canoeists at the 2020 Summer Olympics People from Piraju