Adhemar da Silva

Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (September 29, 1927 – January 12, 2001) is a former Brazilian athlete who competed in the triple jump. He won two Olympic gold medals and set four athletic world records, the last being 16,56 metres in 1955 Pan American Games. He was born in São Paulo, in a poor family, and began in the triple jump in 1947. Under the coaching of German Dietrich Gerner, he soon showed his talent, breaking the national record and taking a place in the Brazilian athletics team to 1948 Olympics, where he only took 14th place, but at Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956, he became a two-time Olympic champion and world record holder. In 1959, Adhemar acted in the film Orfeu Negro, by French director Marcel Camus, which won the Golden Palm of the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He was athlete of São Paulo Futebol Clube, and because him, in the team coat there are 2 gold stars on his homage.

References

• Adhemar Ferreira da Silva in Confederação Brasileira de Atletismo website

Records
Preceded by Naoto Tajima	Men's Triple Jump World Record Holder 1950-12-03 – 1953-07-19	Succeeded by Leonid Serbakov
Preceded by Leonid Serbakov	Men's Triple Jump World Record Holder 1955-03-26 – 1958-07-19	Succeeded by Oleg Rjahovsky