Paris 2024: Bruna Alexandre to make Olympic, Paralympic history for Brazil at Olympic Games in table tennis
Published 11/06/2024 at 13:36 GMT+1
Bruna Alexandre will join a select group of athletes when she heads to Paris this summer. The 29-year-old will become the first Brazilian to take part in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The table tennis player has already achieved extensive success at the Paralympics, where she is a four-time medallist, winning two bronze and two silver medals.
Bruna Alexandre
Image credit: Getty Images
Brazilian table tennis player Bruna Alexandre will make history by becoming the first athlete from her country to compete at both the Olympics and Paralympics.
The 29-year-old follows in the footsteps of table tennis players Natalya Partyka of Poland, Australia's Melissa Tapper and Croatia’s Sandra Paovic in achieving the feat, while South African pair Oscar Pistorius and Natalie du Toit did so in athletics and swimming, respectively.
Partyka competed at Beijing 2008 and did so again at London 2012, while Tapper matched those achievements at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Paovic also took part in Beijing and then won gold at the 2016 Paralympics after injuring her spine in a car accident.
Alexandre reacted to the news on Instagram, writing: “I never thought that I would live and withstand so many challenges that life has imposed on me since my [first] two months of life, but today I can celebrate, sing and even cry and share with everyone who loves me and who follows my journey of becoming the first athlete in the history of Brazil being called to play the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same Olympics!
“When my parents were still crying for the loss of my arm when I was still a baby, they heard that one day I would still make them very proud, and to be able to share this achievement with them and with you reminds me that God’s dreams will never die, because it is in scenarios of loss that he makes winners be born.”
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It has been a remarkable journey for Alexandre, who lost her right arm as a baby due to a blood clot.
Alexandre already has four Paralympic medals to her name, winning two bronze and two silver medals across the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The Brazilian previously spoke of her admiration for Partyka in particular, who is the youngest Paralympian in table tennis history after competing as an 11-year-old at Sydney 2000.
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She then became the first player from her sport to take part in both an Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing eight years later.
“I was always inspired by Natalia Partyka for all she achieved in her career,” Alexandre told Olympics.com.
“I continue to be inspired by her. I think she started this history of table tennis: she played Olympic and Paralympic table tennis together and that gives me great inspiration.”
The table tennis Olympic competition runs between July 27 and August 10, before Alexandre turns her attention to the start of the Paralympic Games on August 28.
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discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer.
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