Diogo Silva

Diogo André Silvestre da Silva ( born March 7, 1982 in São Sebastião do Caí ) is a Brazilian Taekwondo. It starts in the weight category up to 68 kilograms.

Da Silva grew up in Panama and came there, inspired by Jackie Chan, to a Taekwondo Club. He played his first international title fights at the Junior World Cup in 1998 in Istanbul. In the category up to 63 kg, he could immediately reach the semi-finals and win bronze. In the adult area, he first participated at the 2001 World Championships in Jeju -si, where he came into the class up to 67 kg to the last sixteen. Two years later, he missed at the 2003 World Championships in Garmisch -Partenkirchen by a scant quarter-final defeat to Mark Lopez the semi-finals and his first World Championship medal only scarce, but achieved his best result at a World Cup. At the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, he finally won his first international medal with bronze. Da Silva qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In the category up to 68 kg, he retired first in the quarter- finals, but reached with two wins in the losers round the fight for third place. After a defeat against Song Myeong- seob he finished at the end of fourth. To fight for bronze da Silva came in line with the Black Panther movement with black gloves to the mat in order to protest against the lack of support for amateur sports in his homeland.

In 2006, da Silva, his only medal is won in Buenos Aires with bronze at the Pan Championships. At the Pan American home games in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, he won the first Brazilian gold medal in taekwondo. After several years without a successful title fights he was back on track in 2011. In Rio de Janeiro he secured in the lightweight title at the Military World Championship, the International Olympic qualification tournament in Baku, he took a third place and secured the participation in his second Olympic Games 2012 in London. There he came in fifth place after he was defeated in the battle for the bronze medal Terrence Jennings.