Brazil at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Brazil competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's nineteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, excluding the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Brazilian Olympic Committee ( pt, Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro, ''COB'') sent the nation's largest ever delegation in history to the Games. A total of 243 athletes, 124 men and 119 women, competed in 24 sports.

Brazil left Athens with a total of 10 medals (5 golds, 2 silver, and 3 bronze), the lowest in Summer Olympics since 1992. Although the nation's final medal count could not surpass its previous records set in Atlanta (15 medals) and Sydney (12 medals), Brazil produced a record of five golds at these edition, a performance only surpassed 12 years later in Rio de Janeiro, when Brazil was the host country and won seven gold medals.

Brazil conquered its first gold medal ever in Equestrian as also in a mixed Olympic event, with the gold medal won by Rodrigo Pessoa in individual jumping.

Summary

Until the Athens 2004 Games, Brazil had only a two-time Olympic champion, the legendary Adhemar Ferreira da Silva, who shone on the triple jump in Helsinki-1952 and Melbourne-1956. That changed when sailor Robert Scheidt shone in the Laser class and secured his second gold medal (he had already been champion in Atlanta 1996).

Also in the sailing, Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira reached gold in the Star class. Both became two-time Olympic champions since they had won in Atlanta-1996. With the achievement, Torben Grael wrote his name in history (at the time) as the greatest Olympic athlete in Brazil at all times, with five medals ( a performance also matched by Robert Scheidt 8 years later ). He is also one of the sailors with the largest number of Olympic medals at all times, along with Robert Scheidt and British Ben Ainslie.

In the men's volleyball the team coached by the victorious Bernardo Rezende and led by Gilberto Godoy Filho, who started the greatest era of achievements with the Brazil men's national volleyball team, Brazil defeated Italy in the final by 3 to 1 and secured the second gold medal of national volleyball in the Olympic Games. In the team were Maurício Lima and Giovane Gávio, unique remnants of the historic triumph of the tournament of Barcelona 1992.

In men's beach volleyball, Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos defeated the Spaniards Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera in the final and secured the gold. It was the first gold medal ever won by Brazilian men in beach volleyball. In women's beach volleyball Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar again came to the decision, but as they did four years earlier in Sydney, they silver medalists, after losing to Kerri Walsh and Misty May.

Led by Formiga and Marta, women's national football team finally won the first Olympic medal ever. The team advanced to the final against United States. After a very tough match with a draw of 1–1 in regular time, the Americans won the gold medal match by 2–1 at extra time, leaving Brazil with the silver medal.

Brazilian judokas won two more podiums for Brazil. Leandro Guilheiro

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