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42 The PCB Magazine • October 2016 Rafaela Silva—Gold Medal at Rio 2016— Judo, Women's 57Kg I could cite Confucius or some other great philosopher, but as we are talking about sports, movies and fighters, I see no better quote for Rafaela than one from Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone's character from the Rocky movies: "You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. THAT'S HOW WINNING IS DONE!" In Rafaela's case, this is the truest quotation I could ever imagine. She was born in the big- gest favela of Rio de Janeiro, nicknamed City of God, facing poverty and criminality. She could have made many excuses for not becoming a champion or a successful woman, but she de- cided to take another direction. Rafaela started training at the age of five un- der the guidance of her parents who wanted to keep her and her sister away from the streets. She showed a high skill level and was invit- ed by her coach to keep training permanently. The tipping point came in London 2012 when she was disqualified for grabbing the leg of her opponent, which has been illegal since 2010. Claiming she made a mistake, and that she was not trying to cheat, Silva faced racism, criti- cism, depression and serious struggles to get back to the sport. In 2013, a year after the Olympics, she won the world championship and in 2016 she be- came the only Brazilian woman to ever win both the world championship and an Olympic gold medal. What have I learned from Rafaela Silva? 1. There is no excuse. Many times people try to find excuses for their weak results, lack of success or personal achievements, in order to avoid facing reality. Rafaela is an example for leaders who try to hide behind their adversities of daily life, and who blame the others for their own failures. 2. Being a leader requires a huge effort to face the truth, no matter what. In fact, one of the greatest moral virtues a leader can embrace is honesty in recognizing what is going well and what is not. We tend to put our best foot for- ward, and there is no reason not to do so. But we cannot stop there, even when everything else is okay. 3. In winning or failing, and in being suc- cessful or not, there are consequences. Getting stuck is a decision. Questions to consider: • What are the decisions I am going to make? • What are the excuses I need to face? Thiago Braz da Silva—Gold Medal at Rio 2016—Pole Vault This was one of the most controversial gold medals in Rio 2016. The Brazilian supporters played a key role on Thiago's victory, not in the way Silver medalist Renaud Lavillenie, lost the competition, but on how Thiago Braz won it. The Brazilians motivated him, and he was able to turn the supporters' pressure, that once was his greatest fear, into his greatest weapon. Thiago has been trained by one of the most well-known pole vault coaches , the Ukrainian Vitaly Petrov, who trained two world record holding athletes. He also won the World Junior Championship in 2012, and was qualified 4th in the World Indoor Cham- pionship in 2014. Additionally, he held the South American record for pole vault. He had never achieved the mark of six meters, but he was ready for it. LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE RIO OLYMPICS 2016 Rafaela Silva