Fernando Pimenta could become the first Portuguese to win three Olympic medals

Heading into his fourth Games, canoeist Fernando Pimenta is a strong candidate to become the first Portuguese man to win three Olympic medals at Paris 2024, following silver at London 2012 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.

The 34-year-old canoeist from Limiano won a silver medal at London 2012 with Emanuel Silva in the K2 1000m and a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 in the K1 1000m, missing out on a podium finish at Rio 2016 in between, finishing fifth in the K1 1000 and sixth in the K4 1000.

By finishing third at the last Olympics, Fernando Pimenta joined a limited group of Portuguese with two medals, joining champions Carlos Lopes, gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Marathon and silver in the 10,000 metres at Montreal 1976, Rosa Mota, gold at Seoul 1988 and silver at Los Angeles 1984, both in the marathon, and Fernanda Ribeiro, gold at Atlanta 1996 and bronze at Sydney 2000 in the 10,000 metres, as well as Luis Mena e Silva, a rider who won bronze medals at Berlin 1936 and London 1948.

In addition to the eternal dream of winning a medal at the Games, Pimenta leaves for Paris with a greater goal – to try to win gold, after all, the only medal he lacks in the vast haul he boasts of a total of 145 medals between the Olympic, World and European Games.

The Lima native faces stiff competition in Paris in the 1000m K1 and to win the coveted gold he will have to overcome himself and beat the reigning Olympic champion, Hungarian Balint Kopas, and Belarusian Oleg Yurenia, who won the recent European Championships in Szeged, pushing the Hungarian and Portuguese into second and third place respectively.

While Pimenta is looking for his third metal, two other Portuguese athletes are trying to win a second medal in Paris, such as Pedro Pichardo, who will defend his Olympic title in the triple jump, and Jorge Fonseca, who won a bronze medal in Tokyo in the 100 kg judo.