This week was a good week for the Portuguese Olympic Team. Three more medals (two silver and one gold) were added to Patrícia Sampaio’s bronze in judo. The first was won by the cyclist Iúri Leitão in the omnium (cycling category), the second by David Pichardo in the triple jump, and the third by Iúri Leitão and Rui Oliveira in Madison (another cycling category).
Before the beginning of the Paris Olympics, Iúri Leitão, the 26 year-old Portuguese cyclist from Viana do Castelo, in the north of Portugal, said that he would be happy to win an Olympic Diploma, which is awarded to the top 8 cyclists. This was supposed to mean that he would be happy with 8th place. However, on Thursday, Leitão’s first race turned much better than he expected. The omnium champion of the world finished second because he chose not to finish first. When Benjamin Thomas fell, Iúri, like a true champion, chose not to attack and allowed the French to keep his gold medal.
On Friday, Pedro Pichardo, the Olympic champion in Tokyo three years ago, stayed two centimeters away from the gold. The Portuguese athlete was able to reach a mark of 17.84 meters but still lost to the Spanish Jórdan Diaz, who had already beat him at the European Championship in Rome.
On Saturday, Iúri Leitão finally took home the gold and became an icon of Portuguese cycling and Olympic history. Leitão along with Rui Ribeiro, a 27 year-old cyclist from Vila Nova de Gaia, made history and became the first two Portuguese athletes to win an Olympic gold outside of athletics. Cycling as a team, the two athletes won the final of Madison, another category of cycling, in epic fashion. Their perfectly executed plan was a true testament to bravery, cooperation, perseverance, and unity. As one, the two athletes won the 6th Olympic gold for Portugal.
With these medals, Pichardo and Iúri become the sixth and seventh athletes in the history of Portugal to reach the Olympic podium twice, bringing Portugal to a grand total of 32 Olympic medals in 31 editions of the Olympic Games. Portugal’s medals in four events in Paris tie with their results in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – the most they have received in a single Olympic Games. If we count Iúri Leitão and Rui Oliveira’s medals individually, Portugal will bring home five medals from Paris.
