Brazil at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Brazil at the 1920 Summer Olympics
IOC code	BRA
NOC	Brazilian Olympic Committee
Website	www.cob.org.br (in Portuguese)
in Antwerp
Competitors	19 in 5 sports
Flag bearer	Guilherme Paraense[1]
Medals Ranked 15th	Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze 1 Total 3
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Brazil competed at the modern Olympic Games for the first time at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. 19 competitors, all men, took part in 10 events in 5 sports.^[2]

Brazil won its first ever Olympic medals in Antwerp. All the three medals came in Shooting events. The five shooters had great difficulty getting to the Antwerp. First, the shooters boarded the Curvello steamship with the rest of the Brazilian delegation, but they had to go down in Portugal when they learned that the ship would not arrive in time for the competition. Then they took a train from Lisbon to Paris, and much of the trip was in an open car, with the athletes being exposed to rain and sun. In Paris, they changed trains, heading for Belgium. But in Brussels, where they expected the connection to Antwerp, some of the weapons and ammunition had been stolen. The athletes had 200 caliber 8 bullets, although they needed at least 75 for each. They made friends with the American athletes Alfred Lane and Raymond Bracken, who gave the Brazilians 2,000 cartridges and 50 targets.

On August 2, Brazil had already started the men's 50 metre team free pistol, with Fernando Soledade. As his weapon was very bad, the head of the American shooting team, Colonel Snyders, lent the Brazilians two weapons manufactured by Colt especially for the competition. The shooters Sebastião Wolf, Dario Barbosa, Guilherme Paraense and Afrânio da Costa exchanged the weapons among themselves and won the bronze medal for men's 50 metre team free pistol. The individual event was simultaneous with the team event, so Afrânio da Costa also got the individual silver medal, in men's 50 metre free pistol, the first individual medal ever won by a Brazilian .^[3]

The next day, Guilherme Paraense, a Lieutenant of the Army, became the first ever gold medalist from Brazil, when he won the 30 metre military pistol event.