João Carlos de Oliveira
João Carlos de Oliveira ( born May 28, 1954 in São Paulo Pindamonhangaba, † May 29, 1999 in São Paulo) was a Brazilian athlete. At a height of 1.86 m his competition weight was 76 kg.
João do Pulo, João Springer, as he was called in Brazil, stood as a long jumper and especially as a triple jumper in the tradition of the two- time Olympic champion Adhemar Ferreira da Silva and Nelson Prudêncio. With two Olympic medals, four wins at the Pan American Games and three wins at the World Cup in Athletics, he is one of the most successful athletes that Brazil has ever produced.
Career
In his youth, João Carlos de Oliveira had been a talented high jumper who brought it to a Besthöhe of 1.85 meters. In the triple jump, he improved from 14.67 meters (1972 ) to 15.74 meters (1973) and 16.34 meters (1974). In the 1975 season he had improved to 16.74 meters. At the Pan American Games in Mexico City, he won the long jump with 8.19 meters in front of Arnie Robinson from the USA, who came to 7.94 meters in second. On October 15, 1975 at the Triple Jump Final de Oliveira jumped 17.89 meters and improved the world record of Viktor Sanejew from the Soviet Union by 45 inches and the Brazilian national record of Nelson Prudêncio by 62 centimeters. This de Oliveira won the competition, of course, Prudêncio missed fourth of the contest just under the bronze medal, but was more than a meter behind the new world record.
Prior to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal de Oliveira suffered from back problems and stepped in Montreal is not in top form. With 8.00 meters, he finished fifth in the long jump, the Arnie Robinson won. In the triple jump final, a day out, he won Bronze for 16.90 meters, while Sanejew won his third Olympic gold in series.
1977 in Dusseldorf, the World Cup in Athletics was first discharged, and de Oliveira won the triple jump with 16.68 meters. In the summer of 1978, de Oliveira succeeded in Bratislava with 17.44 meters of the second-best jump of his career and the setting of the Flachlandbestweite of Sanejew. In 1979 he won the long jump with 8.18 meters and the triple jump with 17.27 meters at the Pan American Games in San Juan. Second in the triple jump was the American Willie Banks, who should dethrone 1985 de Oliveira as a world record holder. Sixth was João's younger brother, Francisco Carlos de Oliveira. In Montreal, the second World Cup in Athletics João Carlos de Olivera won with 17.02 meters.
The triple jump final at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow should result from the Soviet point of view definitely a victory for the jumpers from the Soviet Union, it was hoped to fourth Olympic win for Sanejew. Instead, then won the also starting for the Soviet Union Este Jaak Uudmäe with 17.35 meters before Sanejew with 17.24 meters and 17.22 meters with de Olivera, Briton Keith Connor jumped 16.87 meters and fourth in the Australian Ian Campbell listed in fifth with 16.72 meters. However, Australian and Brazilian journalists questioned some judges' scores. So regular attempts by Campbell and de Oliveira had been given invalid. According to investigations conducted by the Australian television crews de Oliveira should have won with about 17,70 meters gold and Campbell with about 17,40 meters silver.
In 1981, de Olivera with 17.37 meters in Rome and the third World Cup in Athletics.
In December 1981, João Carlos de Oliveira victim of a traffic accident when a drunk driver drove into it in his car. The accident driver and João's brother Francisco died, João spent several months in a hospital, and ultimately it had to be amputated below the knee right leg.
João Carlos de Oliveira went to the abrupt end of his sporting career in politics, but suffered increasingly from depression, which he battled with alcohol. One day after his 45th birthday, he died of a liver ailment.
Bests
- Long Jump: 8.36 meters (1979 )
- Triple Jump: 17,89 meters (1975 )