Gomes da Silva lands Brazil on the international PV map

[patchdoggydogg]

In the context of South American athletics, there used to be a time when one of the weakest events for Brazil was the Pole Vault. In fact, only four men have won a South American title since the 1950’s: Hélio Buch da Silva (’52), Marcelo de Souza (’61), Renato Bortolocci Ferreira (’75, ’77, and ’89) and Fábio Gomes da Silva (2005, ’07).

In the middle of that, the country exported Tom Hintnaus, a Brazilian-born son of Czechoslovakian immigrants, who moved with his family to the US at the age of two. After missing the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, due to the American boycott, Hintnaus decided to represent Brazil, starting in 1983. In those years, Hintnaus elevated the national record from 5.00m to 5.76.

The full story:

http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/news/kind=2/n ... pole+vault