Patricia Sampaio, the “unstoppable” from Tomar, who fulfilled her destiny and won bronze in judo in Paris 2024.

With a Tomar heart and never forgetting her roots, the rise of possible future journalist Patricia Sampaio in judo was always inevitable, ever since she led the junior categories of the sport.

The judoka had dreamed of going to the Olympic Games long before her debut three years ago in Tokyo 2020, the trip already promised great things with winning medals at the World and European Junior and Cadet Championships.

Achievements that led her to leadership in the junior categories between 2017 and 2019, but her life began to be divided between Tomar and Lisbon, in the bustle between her studies at the Sociedade Filarmónica Gualdim Pais and the course in social communications.

In Lisbon, Patricia Sampaio concentrated on training at the Centro de Alto Rendimento and supporting the Lisbon Judo Club in those moments when she was not going to meet her brother, coach and idol Igor in the company of Tomar, in a basement with almost no light, illustrated by a framed painting by the founder of world judo, Jigoro Kano.

“I have an emotional connection with this club. [Sociedade Gualdim Pais] and, of course, it is also connected with the fact that my brother is my coach, there is another closeness that not everyone is lucky enough to have. I feel very good here, I grew up here…”, he told the Lusa agency in 2019.

The first results were promising until Sampaio, aged 20, fought for his first medal at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, but then found himself on the edge of the podium, beaten by the Brazilian Maira Aguiar, whom he had always considered a benchmark.

The results demonstrated the serious potential of Patricia Sampaio, who won a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships that same year.

The approval in older people began shortly after that, in the following year, 2020, but this was also when the first physical setbacks appeared after winning medals at the beginning of 2020 in international competitions (Tel Aviv and Dusseldorf).

A serious injury, a fracture with dislocation of the right leg, in October 2020 prevented her from going out on the mats, with a return only in April 2021, at the European Championships in Lisbon, where she was injured again, this time by a muscle micro-tear.

A “streak” of bad luck, due to which she dropped out of competitions and, perhaps, this is why the judoka continues to declare again and again the need to “reinvent” herself.

“The need to constantly reinvent yourself and learn more and better, the resilience we gain when overcoming obstacles and the feeling that comes from it,” Sampaio said in a statement to the Portuguese Olympic Committee, describing what he likes most about judo.

A spirit that made her surpass herself again in May 2022, when at the European Championships in Sofia she screamed in pain after injuring her right shoulder and was forced to withdraw from the competition in which she was fighting for a place in the final.

Injury forced her to take another long break, but the Tomar native was looking for the resilience and strength that will see champions rise like a phoenix in 2023, when a gold medal will open the track: at the Almada Grand Prix.

It was an Olympic qualification year that brought judokas many medals at Grand Slam tournaments (Tel Aviv, Tashkent, Antalya, Barysy, Ulaanbaatar) and their first bronze at the European Championships in November in Montpellier.

The exploits were closely watched, side by side during the selection, by Marco Morais, a selector who “rewired” with the judoka the special bond he already had in training and, like his brother, had a significant share in his success.

In Paris, Patricia was not a leader in the ranks and had to avoid some “elite”, but the most unfavorable context did not prevent her from “cleaning” almost everything that came her way, “uncontrollably”. [imparável] like your favorite song.