Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Brazil competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 225 athletes – 159 men, 66 women – competed in 18 sports. The country set a record with both 15 medals – only surpassed in 2008 – and 3 golds – surpassed in 2004 with five.
In the debutant beach volleyball, several remarkable achievements were earned when it happened the all-Brazilian final between Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva and Mônica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel:
- the first Olympic medals ever won by Brazilian women in any sport
- the first Olympic gold medal ever won by Brazilian women.
- the first medal ever earned in beach volleyball
- the first gold medal ever in the sport.
Summary
After 76 years since the debut of the country at the 1920 Summer Olympics, Brazilian women finally won Olympic medals. That happened for the first time in the all-Brazilians beach volleyball final between Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva and Mônica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel. Beach volleyball competitions made its debut at 1996 Summer Olympics.The other two gold medals were both obtained in Sailing events. Robert Scheidt was gold medalist in the Laser class. Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira won Star class. It was the first medal of Robert Scheidt and the third medal of Torben Grael; both sailors are the onliest Brazilian athletes with the record of five Olympic medals. Besides the two gold medals, a bronze medal was also obtained in sailing by Torben's brother Lars Grael and Kiko Pellicano in Tornado class.
Brazil women's national basketball team, led by Hortência Marcari, Janeth Arcain and Maria Paula Silva, had a great performance, losing the gold medal match to host country United States women's national basketball team. It was the first medal won by women in Basketball.
The swimmer Gustavo Borges obtained the silver medal in men's 200 metre freestyle and the bronze medal in 100 metre freestyle. The other medal obtained in swimmer was the bronze medal conquered by Fernando Scherer in men's 50 m freestyle.
Brazil women's national volleyball team, finally won its first Olympic medal after a hard bronze medal match against Russia by 3 sets to 2.
At the men's football tournament, the under-23 football team lost a dramatic semifinal to Nigeria by 4–3, after being winning the match by 3 to 0. In the bronze medal match, Brazil beat Portugal by 5–0.
At the Judo events, Brazil won two bronze medals. The 1988 Olympic champion Aurélio Miguel obtained a medal in men's 95 kg category, while Henrique Guimarães was the medalist in men's 65 kg category.
The bronze medal obtained by equestrians Luiz Felipe de Azevedo, André Johannpeter, Alvaro Miranda Neto and Rodrigo Pessoa in team jumping was the first of the History of the country not only in Equestrian as also in a mixed gender Olympic event, tough all 4 members of the team were men.
Finally, Robson da Silva, Édson Ribeiro, André da Silva and Arnaldo da Silva obtained for the first time ever a medal in a relay event in Athletics, the bronze in the men's 4 × 100 metres relay.
Medalists
Multiple medallist
The following competitor won several medals at the 1996 Olympic Games.| Name | Medal | Sport | Event |
| Gustavo Borges | Swimming | Men's 200 metre freestyle Men's 100 metre freestyle |
Competitors
The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.| Sport | Men | Women | Total |
| Athletics | 31 | 9 | 40 |
| Basketball | 12 | 12 | 24 |
| Beach volleyball | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Boxing | 6 | – | 6 |
| Canoeing | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Cycling | 8 | 0 | 6 |
| Equestrian | 9 | 0 | 8 |
| Football | 17 | 16 | 33 |
| Handball | 16 | 0 | 16 |
| Judo | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| Rowing | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Sailing | 12 | 2 | 14 |
| Shooting | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Swimming | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| Table tennis | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Tennis | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Volleyball | 11 | 12 | 23 |
| Weightlifting | 1 | – | 1 |
| Total | 156 | 65 | 221 |
Athletics
;Men;Track & road events
;Field events
;Women
;Track & road events
;Field events
Basketball
Men's tournament
;Team roster- Ratto
- Tonico
- Josuel
- Caio
- Caio da Silveira
- Olívia
- Ferraciú
- Pipoka
- Janjão
- Oscar Schmidt
- Rogério
- Wilson Minucci
;Quarterfinal
;Classification game 5th-8th place
;5th place game
Women's tournament
;Team roster;Group play
;Quarterfinal
;Semifinal
;Gold medal game
Canoeing
Slalom
| Athlete | Event | Run 1 | Rank | Run 2 | Rank | Best | Rank |
| Leonardo Selbach | Men's C-1 | 216.51 | 24 | 184.54 | 19 | 184.54 | 23 |
| Gustavo Selbach | Men's K-1 | 168.33 | 28 | 162.48 | 23 | 168.33 | 32 |
Sprint
;MenCycling
Road
;MenMountain biking
;Men| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank |
| Ivanir Lopes | Cross-country | 2:53:29 | 35 |
| Márcio Ravelli | Cross-country | 2:45:16 | 27 |
Football
Men's tournament
;Team rosterHead coach: Zagallo
;Group play
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;Quarterfinal
;Semifinal
;Bronze medal match
Women's tournament
;Team rosterHead coach: José Duarte
Brazil named a squad of 16 players and 2 alternates for the tournament. During the tournament, Kátia replaced Nilda due to injury.
;Group play
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----
;Semifinal
;Bronze medal match
Handball
;SummaryMen's tournament
;Team roster- Cezar Stelzner de Lima
- Edison Alves Freire
- Ivan Raimundo Pinheiro
- Marcos Antônio Cezar
- José Ronaldo do Nascimento
- Fausto Steinwandter
- Paulo Moratore
- Milton Fonseca Pelissari
- Daniel Pinheiro
- Agberto Correa de Matos
- Marcelo Minhoto Ferraz de Sampaio
- Winglitton Rocha Barros
- Ivan Bruno Maziero
- Rodrigo Hoffelder
- Osvaldo Inocente Filho
- Carlos Luciano Ertel
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;Eleventh place game
Judo
;Men;Women
Rowing
;MenSailing
;Men;Women
;Mixed
Shooting
;MenSwimming
;Men;Women
Table tennis
;Men;Women
Volleyball
Indoor
Men's tournament
;Team roster- Gilson Bernardo
- Nalbert Bitencourt
- Giovane Gávio
- Antonio Carlos Gouveia
- Mauricio Lima
- Fábio Marcelino
- Marcelo Negrão
- Cássio Pereira
- Max Pereira
- Alexandre Samuel
- Carlos Schwanke
- Paulo André Silva
- Head coach:
;Group play
;Quarterfinal
;5th-8th place classification game
;5th place game
Women's tournament
;Team roster- Ana Ida Alvares
- Leila Barros
- Ericleia Bodziak
- Hilma Caldeira
- Ana Paula Connelly
- Marcia Cunha
- Virna Dias
- Ana Moser
- Ana Flavia Sanglard
- Hélia Souza
- Sandra Suruagy
- Fernanda Venturini
- Head coach:
;Group play
;Quarterfinal
;Semifinal
;Bronze medal game