It was after watching a documentary about Paralympic sports that little Paloma Morales Gatti, 10, developed a taste for sports and wanted to train in fencing. Quickly, a technical team that takes care of great Brazilian talents in games played by people with disabilities saw the potential in the girl for great future achievements.
Paloma is the point where an audacious project by the CPB (Brazilian Paralympic Committee) begins, making Brazil the biggest Paralympic superpower in the world, displacing China, which has been at the top of the medal table in the last six editions of the Games.
To meet the goal, the committee is working to increase from the current 98 to 550 the reference centers spread across the country that attract potential athletes. These gateways are considered essential for winning medals.
The training track already has examples that draw attention. Runner Fabrício Klein, 16, won three gold medals in his first official competition and is already among the eight best times in national rankings for the 100 m and 200 m in his category, T37, for athletes with movement disorders and a moderate lack of motor coordination on one side of the body.
Before becoming a podium promise for the Los Angeles Games, in the United States, in 2028, Fabrício faced challenges of survival. He was born with sickle cell anemia — a condition in which the red blood cells are defective — which made him suffer five ischemic strokes and 29 hospitalizations with numerous stays in ICUs. At the age of five, he became a wheelchair user due to losing movement.
The cure came after a bone marrow transplant, which took place in 2017, in a very rare occurrence, compatibility with his brother, Gabriel, who has visual impairment and is also an athlete.
“I am extremely grateful to him [ao irmão]which practically saved my life and gave me the opportunity to be here today”, he says.
Regarding possible pressure for results, he says he is prepared. “Pressure is a privilege because you change over time, throughout your life. You learn more and more, have more opportunities and develop as a citizen and as an athlete. Sport transforms us.”
Already on the mat, Wiliany Vitória Costa do Nascimento, 17, from Ceará, is one of the Brazilian bets to remain among the highlights of judo, a sport that has always helped Brazil in its climb to become a Paralympic power — it placed in historic fifth place, in Paris, 2024.
While still a girl, she left her biological parents’ home, in the interior of Ceará, to live with a family of German origin, in São Paulo, looking for better conditions, accessibility for her visually impaired condition, and more opportunities in sport. For Wiliany, his achievements have the value of gaining independence.
“I’ve been through a lot of hard things in my life. In 2020, I came to São Paulo, and it wasn’t easy to distance myself from my biological family. It was always a struggle. Judo helped me a lot. Having the challenge of participating in competitions and fighting for a goal. It’s not so much for a medal, but for the experience of having the taste of achieving things. It’s wonderful when you can do something independently and autonomously. It’s priceless”, says the competitor.
The judoka says she is persistent rather than optimistic about her Paralympic future and her chances of a gold medal in two years. “I would say that my path to Los Angeles is very promising. I have achieved a lot of things. Since 2024, I have started to explode as an athlete.”
The CPB states that it is essential for the development of new talents that development stages are not overrun and that young athletes are not subjected to excessive pressure for results, preserving the emotional maturity of competitors who are still learning to deal with victories and defeats.
It was precisely a context of lack of emotional preparation that kept swimmer Alessandra Oliveira, 17, away from the Paris Paralympic Games. She ended up getting disorganized on the eve of the event and was unable to score, although she was already showing excellent results at the time.
“Now I’m much more focused, understanding better how high performance works and knowing how to deal with pressure. I’m going to do everything I can to be in Los Angeles”, says the athlete, who won two gold medals at the world championships in Singapore, in 2025, in her category, S5.
Alessandra had parts of her lower and upper limbs amputated as a child, after having a reaction to a vaccine. The subgroup in which he competes traditionally generates excellent results for Brazil, such as those of multi-medallist Daniel Dias.
Little Paloma, the one at the beginning of this text, has already done swimming, martial arts and shot put. Now, she is committed to athletics and runs in a wheelchair. There is a long and promising road ahead.
