If there is a good habit that an athlete can develop, it is to bring home medals, especially if they are Olympic and world titles. A habit that Joana Santos has been developing.
A few days ago, the Farense judoka became vice-champion of judo at the Deaflympic Games, in Sofia, Bulgaria and was honored by the Chamber of Faro, in a session where family, friends, colleagues and, of course, the executive councilor from Faro got together.
Joana is very young and everything indicates that she will have many more sporting successes, to her delight, from those closest to her and from the community of Faro, but that does not prevent her from already having an enviable record.
This year, the medal he brought from the deaflympics was silver, but four years ago, in Taipei, he secured the gold medal, in the 63 kg category. However, she was world champion in her category.
The athlete from Algarve came very close to renewing the title of deaflympic champion, in a competition that was very disputed. «It was quite difficult! There were many more countries, the degree of difficulty increased a lot. There were people with techniques I didn't know», he revealed to Sul Informação.
Despite not having managed to renew the title of champion, Joana says she is "very proud" of going to the final and the performance she achieved. “I went to the final with an athlete from Ukraine. We were tied, I got a punishment and she ended up winning. But I'm very proud of having got the silver medal and, in four years' time, I'm going to try again to win the gold», he said.
For now, the athlete from Faro is going on vacation. «Now I'm going to rest a little, and then start training intensely. I won't stop completely either. I'm going to run a bit, I don't want to get fat,” he said, laughing.
In session, the president of the Chamber of Faro Macário Correia highlighted the athlete's achievements and the pride that the municipality has of her victories.
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