Olympic champions left speechless by ‘incredible’ reception in Porto

Portuguese cyclists Yuri Leitão and Rui Oliveira, Olympic champions of the Paris 2024 Madison, were “speechless” this Monday after the reception that awaited them at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto after the historic Olympic Games.

“There are no words. At the level of an Olympic champion. It is very nice to see the Portuguese here celebrating with us. Honestly, no. [esperava tanta gente]”This is something special, thank you all,” Rui Oliveira told reporters.

It took some time for Madison’s two Olympic champion cyclists, as well as Leitan, who won silver in the omnium, to accommodate the crowd of more than a thousand people.

“What we see here is impressive. It’s incredible. (…) This is the biggest victory in cycling in our history. We have never reached such heights, especially at the Olympic Games,” reflected Iuri Leitao.

For the 26-year-old cyclist from Viana do Castelo, the moment “will be a very good catapult” for the sport, as they both recall their departure two weeks ago to Paris with a “dream” in the Olympic debut of cycling. Portugal’s athletics competition in the men’s category after Maria Martins (seventh in the omnium) opened the Tokyo 2020 participation.

“We were here two weeks ago and it was practically empty. We came with the dream of the Olympic debut of the track and came back with gold in the most important race. We couldn’t have dreamed of a better moment,” said Rui Oliveira, who leaves for Denmark “at six in the morning” on Tuesday.

Despite everything, Yuri Leitao remembers that the “big goal” was to reach the top eight, although the dream of a medal is “common for all athletes.”

“Bringing two people is indescribable,” he admitted.

Still in disbelief and almost indifferent to the celebrations, Rui Oliveira celebrates the Olympic Games as “the culmination of an athlete’s dream” after other international competitions such as the European and World Championships that immediately brought gold.

“It still doesn’t occur to me that we are Olympic champions. We must enjoy this moment, I hope everyone is with us and let’s not forget about track cycling. In October there are world championships, and a year later this year we will continue to try to grow,” he confirmed.

The 27-year-old cyclist from Vila Nova de Gaia constantly stresses the need for the wave of support they have received, which was demonstrated today at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, to continue in the near future.

“I hope this is a small step to open people up not only to cycling but to other disciplines. Keep supporting track cycling, keep supporting the other disciplines where we also had diplomas. It was a fantastic group. I thank everyone, but keep supporting,” he insisted, praising the solidarity between national athletes: “If we do this with such little money, imagine that they don’t just remember us in the year of the Olympics to ask for medals.”

Yuri Leitao, world champion and Olympic omnium “vice president”, was asked if he would like to receive a similar reception every year, and he ironically responded to put their feat in perspective.

“If I could have maintained that consistency, I would probably be one of the best in history… Luckily, I had two, three very good years. We will try to maintain the level, but it is very difficult,” he explained.

The Vivian native returned to Portugal the day after the closing ceremony, at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, where he was the flag bearer of the Portuguese mission, along with judoka Patricia Sampaio, who won bronze in the 78 kg category and was the first of four national medalists.

“Pedro Pichardo [prata no triplo salto] I wasn’t there, but we celebrated the end of the Games. It was a very beautiful ceremony, and we were able to be close to all the athletes, which we couldn’t do. [durante as competições]“This exchange of experience was important,” he described.