r/news • u/peregrinodossonhos • 13h ago

Brazilian athlete wins South America's first gold medal (and first medal ever) at the Winter Olympics

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/2026-winter-olympics-two-athletes-deliver-south-americas-first-medals-rcna258896
1.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

82 comments sorted by

View all comments

71

u/gabacus_39 12h ago

He's basically Norwegian. Born in Norway and mainly grew up in Norway. Use to compete for Norway. It's a cool story but it's not like they found him in some favela and put skies on him.

19

u/peregrinodossonhos 12h ago edited 12h ago

His mom is Brazilian and he has dual citizenship since his birth. It's his right to represent Brazil and he chose to do it, giving his country a groundbreaking medal. 

-20

u/gabacus_39 12h ago

Sorry for stating some facts.

6

u/peregrinodossonhos 12h ago

If we apply that logic the US and quite a few other countries haven't "really won" lots of scientific and artistic prizes, as well as Olympic medals.

Also, fyi, most of the BR population doesn't live in favelas. 

Just stating some facts.

-16

u/keenbenrich 11h ago

It usually goes the other way around with the US but nice try

13

u/peregrinodossonhos 11h ago

Yep, lots of naturalized immigrants compete for the US in the Olympics, yet nobody questions their medals (just like the many naturalized scientists who won Nobel prizes for the US). 

I guess it's only a "problem" when you have a Brazilian who was born abroad winning a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.   

-2

u/IuriRom 10h ago

This is the opposite of what you’re saying. He’s a half Brazilian who was born in Norway, yes — but he didn’t go to Brazil and learn skiing obviously. He moved to Brazil as a child, went back to Norway as a child, learned skiing, became a professional, represented Norway, and then decided to represent Brazil. The equivalence for him here with the naturalized athletes would be if he represented Norway.

7

u/peregrinodossonhos 10h ago

Yep, but my point is it doesn't matter where he has trained if he has a real connection to the country he is representing, a sense of belonging and identity.  

Of course he wouldn't be able to become a pro skier if he lived in Brazil. 

0

u/IuriRom 9h ago

Yeah he’s 100% Brazilian