Brazil competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's twenty-first appearance at the Summer Olympics, having missed the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Brazilian Olympic Committee (Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro, COB) sent a total of 258 athletes to the Games, 136 men and 122 women, to compete in 24 sports. Brazil left London with a total of 17 Olympic medals (3 gold, 5 silver, and 9 bronze), winning their third largest number of medals at a single games.
The good result of the Brazilian performance was packed by the expressive results of the judo team during the first days of the Games.
The first gold medal come with the judoka Sarah Menezes, in women's 48 kg category, Menezes was the first Brazilian woman judoka to turn an Olympic champion Beijing, she had competed at the age of 18 and, inexperienced, was defeated in the first fight. The evolution in the cycle that followed was extraordinary. Sarah came to England at the height of physical, technical and psychological forms. And the result was the gold medal, with victory in the decision, over RomanianAlina Dumitru, who had been the champion in Beijing. Sarah, who won the first gold in Brazil in 2012 Summer Olympics, became the country's first judoka woman to triumph in an Olympics and was also the first gold medal in judo in 20 years, since the last to have won in the competition had been Rogério Sampaio, in Barcelona 1992. The other 3 medals in judo were bronze: Felipe Kitadai in men's 60 kg, Mayra Aguiar in women's 78 kg and Rafael Silva in men's +100 kg.
In the second week of the Games, another unprecedented event happened when the gymnast Arthur Zanetti made history again by conquering the gold medal in men's rings. Arthur Zanetti had already shown his potential in the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships when he won the silver medal. After being 4th place in the qualification to the rings final, with a score of 15.616, he won the gold medal in this event, with a score of 15.900. He was the first gymnast from Latin America to win an Olympic medal and also the first from the southern hemisphere.
On the penultimate day of the Games, Team Brasil won its third gold medal, the only collective sport in this edition. women's volleyball competition, the incumbent Olympic champion Brazil women's national volleyball team repeated the result obtained in Beijing four years early. But, this campaign is marked by impacting tense twists On the first game against the Turkish team there was the first scare, the team almost lost the game in the fifth set. The second shock followed with the defeat to the United States in an unlit game. In the sequence a painful game happened when an unpredictable defeat happened for the South Korea With the combination of results so far, the team was facing a traumatic elimination, having to win at any cost the next two games (China. and Serbia.) and hoped for another combination of results in which the United States would have to win their last two games (South Korea and Turkey), which ended up happening. The upshot of this campaign of ups and downs was a dramatic quarter-final clash against Russia This game is considered one of the greatest volleyball games of all times, in a fierce rivalry over previous clashes in recent years, such as the semi-finals of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the 2006 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship and the 2010 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship in all these games, Brazil ended up losing to Russia in the fifth set by extremely tight scores. This game followed the script of the previous decisive games, but with a twist, Brazil managed to reverse six match points throughout the game. However, in the fifth set, after several physical and mental tests, the team managed to win the game on the limit score of 21 to 19.
In the semi-finals, the team performance turned, at the normal and a respectful win against Japan by 3 to 0. Thus, the team managed to reach its second consecutive final against another great rival, the United States. This second game between the two teams in these games was a reissue of the final held 4 years earlier in Beijing. But this time, the story had everything to be different, since the United States was the favorite. After a harsh defeat of the US in the first set (25–11), Brazil won easily the next three sets (25–17, 25–20 and 25–17) and the team winning a second gold medal. Half of team was consecrated, since they were remnants of the team that four years earlier was also an Olympic champion: Fabiana Claudino, Fabiana de Oliveira, Paula Pequeno, Jaqueline Carvalho, Sheilla Castro and Thaísa Menezes made history to be the first Brazilian women to become two-time Olympic champions. The coach José Roberto Guimarães also wrote his name in history as the first three-time Olympic volleyball champion (male or female).
In the football men's tournament, the Brazil national under-23 football team led by Neymar advanced as favorite to the final against Mexico, after 5 victories in 5 matches. But a fast goal from Mexican Oribe Peralta with only 29 seconds into the first half, destabilized the Brazilian players. In the second half of the match, Peralta scored again within 74 minutes. Brazil still scored a goal in the 91 minutes, but there was no time for the tie and the match ended in 2 to 1.
Sailors Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada took the bronze medal in the Star class. Robert became one of the most successful Brazilian athletes in history with a total of five Olympic medals, tying the record of Torben Grael. He is also one of the sailors with the largest number of Olympic medals of all time, along with Torben Grael and British Ben Ainslie.
The Brazilian Olympic Committee selected a team of 258 athletes, 136 men and 122 women, to compete in all sports, except badminton and field hockey; it was the nation's second-largest team sent to the Olympics, failing by only five athletes short of the record in Beijing. There was only a single competitor in archery, slalom canoeing, modern pentathlon, and freestyle wrestling. Brazil also marked its Olympic return in men's basketball after a sixteen-year absence.
The Brazilian team featured three defending champions from Beijing, including long jumper Maurren Maggi and freestyle swimmer César Cielo, who both became the nation's first athletes to win gold in their sporting events. Equestrian show jumper Rodrigo Pessoa, and table tennis player Hugo Hoyama became the second and third Brazilian athlete to compete in six Olympic Games. Pessoa, a triple Olympic medalist, was also the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.[1] Meanwhile, three athletes made their fifth Olympic appearance: beach volleyballer and double medalist Emanuel Rego, sailor and multiple-time medalist Robert Scheidt, and football player Formiga. Equestrian eventing rider Serguei Fofanoff, at age 43, was the oldest athlete of the team, while slalom kayaker Ana Sátila was the youngest at age 16.
The following is the list of number of competitors participating in the Games. Note that reserves in fencing, field hockey, football, and handball are not counted as athletes:
Brazilian athletes achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard):[3][4]
Key
Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
* Iziane Castro Marques was released after indiscipline off the court before the Games. No other athlete has replaced her and the team had only 11 players.[8]
Brazil named a squad of 18 players and 4 alternates for the tournament.[19][20] Prior to the tournament, Elaine withdrew injured and was replaced on 23 July 2012 by Danielli, who was initially selected as an alternate player.[21]Gabi Zanotti subsequently filled the vacant alternate spot.
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage
Brazilian swimmers achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):[34][35]Glauber Silva obtained qualification for 100 m butterfly event but was removed from the Olympic team after drawing doping suspension.[36]
Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats.
^"Brazil – Egypt". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 26 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
^"Brazil – Belarus". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 29 July 2012. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
^"Brazil – New Zealand". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 1 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
^"Brazil – Honduras". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 August 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
^"South Korea – Brazil". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
^"Brazil – Mexico". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 11 August 2012. Archived from the original on August 14, 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
^"Brazil – Squad List". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2020.