Brazil's first gold medallist of Rio 2016 couldn't be more home-grown.

Meet Rafaela Silva, the 24-year old Judoka born and raised in the City of God, a favela just 8km from the Carioca 2 Arena, the stadium in which the Olympic Judo tournament took place.

A courageous woman who began practicing Judo at the age of five as a way of coping with aggression in the environment in which she grew up.

And it was nearly not to be. As a black woman, Silva suffered extreme racism after she was eliminated in the first round at London 2012. She nearly abandoned the sport.

It was in her own backyard, with family and friends watching in the stalls, that she made it to the podium top spot in the light-weight category (up to 57kg). "When I started Judo it was just a game. Now I'm Olympic champion. I can't explain how that feels," she said.

Before each of her five games she was clear-eyed and steely-mouthed, calm and determined. Only her war-cries before the fights revealed a more emotional side: green and yellow dental braces, the colours of Brazil.

Going for gold she had to vanquish not only the trauma of London 2012, but also her nemeses from four years ago. In the quarter finals she made mincemeat of the Hungarian Hedvig Karakas.

In the semis, she endured a lengthy battle of seven minutes and five seconds against the Romanian Corina Caprioriu (normal match time is four minutes, but in this case, the competitors had to continue because there was a draw). For her coach, Mário Tsutsui, that was the moment that made the gold medal a possibility.

The last battle cry came after the victory against the Mongolian Sumiya Dorjsuren, world number one. Rafaela floored her with a punishing blow, a waza-ari, during the first half of the fight.

When it was over, the Brazilian fell to the mat on her knees with joy and shock. She enveloped her trainer in a bear-hug and jumped over the barrier to the stalls to celebrate with her family. She was, from that moment on, Olympic champion.

Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS

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	Nacho Doce/Reuters
	Rafaela Silva holds her gold medal during a press conference