Gustavo Ribeiro brings Portuguese skateboarding back to the Olympics

Skateboarder Gustavo Ribeiro was confirmed this Sunday by the Portuguese Olympic Committee (COP) for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, raising the number of athletes and the 12 members of the Portuguese mission in the French capital to 57.

Gustavo Ribeiro, who competed in skateboarding’s Olympic debut with an eighth-place finish in the Tokyo 2020 final, will return to compete on the street.

With the 23-year-old skater’s qualification confirmed for Paris 2024 – Thomas Augusto’s qualification in the park aspect is also virtually guaranteed, it just needs to be made official – skateboarding joins other, more “classic” sports in the Portuguese Mission. , in the case of athletics, is responsible for the largest national delegation.

There are 12 athletes who have a “passport” to the French capital, namely the reigning Olympic triple jump champion Pedro Pablo Pichardo, Agathe Souza (length), Pedro Boirot (pole vault), Samuel Barata and Susana Godinho (marathon). Isaac Nader (1500 metres), João Coelho (400 metres), Oriol Dongmo (weight), Ana Cabecinha (20 kilometers walk), Irina Rodriguez (discus) and Fatoumata Diallo (400 meters hurdles).

Portugal has currently signed up 57 athletes for the Games, which run from July 26 to August 11, although athletics places will only be officially confirmed after June 30, when an agreement between ranking places and brands is finalized.

Cycling follows in the rankings with seven representatives after securing its presence in women’s Olympic cross-country for the second time in a row.

Portugal has confirmed its participation in men’s athletics for the first time at the Madison and Omnium Olympics, a discipline that will also feature a female cyclist in Paris 2024, with three others on the track.

In judo, six places are guaranteed: Catarina Costa (-48 kg), Rochelle Nunez (+78 kg), Patricia Sampaio (-78 kg), Barbara Timo (-63 kg) and Jorge Fonseca (+100 kg) qualify by ranking and João Fernando (up to 81 kg) in the continental quota, the team does not include Thelma Monteiro, bronze medalist of Rio 2016.

The five are table tennis representatives after Zeni Shao and Fu Yu qualified based on their results in the European qualifying tournament, repeating Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

The men’s team has already qualified for a selection that will consist of three players – thanks to the quota obtained by Marcos Freitas, Thiago Apolonia, Joao Gerald and Diogo Carvalho at the World Team Championship – two of whom will still be left in the individual tournament.

With the same number of elements, swimming under the leadership of Diogo Ribeiro with a minimum of 50 and 100 meters freestyle, as well as the 100 meters butterfly, in which he is world champion together with João Costa (100 meters backstroke). Camila Rebelo (200m backstroke), Miguel Nascimento (50m freestyle) and Angelique Andre (open water).

In equestrian sport, dressage guaranteed a collective quota, so in addition to being present at the obstacle course competition (a place assigned to the country of Duarte Seabra), Portugal will host three more riders in Paris 2024, who will take part in both the team competition and the team competition . and the event is individual.

The triathlon also has four guaranteed spots as the mixed relay qualifies, with two women and two men competing in the individual events.

In canoeing, Teresa Portela secured a place in the K1 500m, Fernando Pimenta in the K1 1000m (in which he won a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020), and João Ribeiro and Messias Baptista in the K2 500. meters. All four were selected.

In sailing, Portugal finished third when Mafalda Pires de Lima “saved” her place in the women’s kites with a seventh place finish in Hyères, France.

The Portuguese sailor thus joins Eduardo Marques (in ILCA 7), as well as Diogo Costa and Carolina João (470 mixed players).

Completing the Portuguese team are surfers Teresa Bonvalot and Yolanda Hopkins, who finished fifth at Tokyo 2020, gymnasts Filipa Martins in the full competition and Gabriel Albuquerque on the springboard, and shooter Maria Ines Barros in the trap shooting.