There was a bow. There must always be a bow. Respect for your opponent, and respect for the sport. But no sooner was the bow over than Rafaela Silva was running towards the crowd, her arms aloft, the cheers shattering her eardrums.


After three days, the home nation’s wait for a gold medal is over. Brazil has its local hero. And Rio de Janeiro has its hero too, a 24-year-old woman who grew up just five miles away in one of the city’s most notorious slums, where many of her family still live. For a Games held in a country with rampant inequality, showering money on those least in need of it, this was a loudspeaker blast from the favelas: from the same streets and steps to which Silva will return as an Olympic champion.
On Silva’s right bicep, covered by her judo jacket, is a tattoo. It reads: “God alone knows what I suffered to get here.” And ever since she grew up in the City of God favela, made famous by the film of the same name, Silva has been a fighter.

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