For young Brazilian boxer Roberto Custodio, reaching next year’s London Olympics will not just be the pinnacle of his career so far, but a remarkable victory over adversity in itself. A victory that was inspired by the power of boxing as a way to deal with the hardships of his childhood on the streets where he watched his father tragically murdered.
Roberto Custodio
Laureus has been speaking to Roberto, who is a former participant at the Laureus-supported Fight for Peace project in Brazil.
When did you first start going to Fight for Peace? What were the sessions like for you? How did you do when you first began?
I started attending boxing classes when 14 to 15 years old when the Fight for Peace Academy was in another community of Maré, the Union Park Community.
I was attracted to Fight for Peace because of the boxing classes after watching the older guys in the ring.
As a boy, what was a typical day like for you?
When I was younger, I was always a calm boy that loved to play. I practised capoeira when I was 10 years old.
I liked to fly kites, play soccer but also loved to go out to ‘funk’ parties – although my Mom did not actually ‘allow’ me to do so. I used to have to sneek out during the night to go to such parties, but whenever I arrived back, she was always waiting for me with a belt in her hands… and so you know what happened….(he laughs).
What was the worst example of gang violence that you saw?
The question shouldn’t be the worst example of violence I saw, but the one I still see everyday…
Today I see big social inequality, lack of opportunities – especially to the slum dwellers. I see prejudice, lack of the right of freedom for each person. But even my rights, which through the years I have come to learn, also show my duties for the society.
Thanks to Fight for Peace, people are taught and shown that we all have rights and duties, and that we can and should fight for them.
"Many of the boys who came to train with me see my life story as an example... I tell them they should believe in their potential and in themselves."
What were the circumstances of your father’s death? How did this affect you and your interest in boxing?
Losing my father, the way he was taken out of the world, is very sad and cruel.
Never in my life did I think I could lose him this way.
He was a dedicated worker without any addictions or involvement with anything. On the contrary, he wouldn’t like mixing up with such things and would be very upset with all that [i.e. illegality, drugs] happening in our community.
But… life is like a box of surprises… Things that we could never even imagine, happen in the very place that we live.
When my dad was killed, I had just started my boxing training . It was very difficult for me. I became unmotivated to train, to study or do other things. I could only think about leaving Maré, but due to our financial conditions, we could just not go anywhere else. Today I still try to look for places to live with less violence, but it is pretty hard as there are many places suffering from violence.
I then slowly started moving on with my life. I would go to school, to the Fight for Peace Academy to train. But I did not want to hang around the streets anymore and this was why I started to dedicate more and more time to my boxing training, so I could try to forget about all the suffering and anger.
Rio De Janeiro's favelas, much like the one where Roberto grew up
What do you try to teach youngsters on the streets and how do you encourage them that there can be a better life for them?
Over time, through my dedication to boxing and the fact I’m involved for all those years with Fight for Peace, I was offered to work as an assistant of boxing coach, so I could pass on my knowledge to other boys that came to train in the Academy with me.
Today I’m in the Brazilian Boxing Team and I see that many of the boys who came to train with me see my life story as an example and what I tell them is that they should believe in their potential and in themselves, it only depends on their willpower and inner strengh.
It is not easy, but they have to try and persist to achieve their goals. And above of all, have faith!
How often are you in Rio with Fight for peace?
Whenever I’m not training with the Brazilian Boxing Team.
What are hopes for London 2012?
London 2012 is a goal that I keep thinking and believing I can get. Until I get the final results of the classified names, I keep believing I can be one of them. It is hard, I know, but one thing I’m sure of is that I pursued, I believed and I did my best. Regardless of what happens.
What are your ambitions for after you stop boxing?
For after boxing, I want to graduate in physical education, sports management or physical therapy. And, also, to be able to help in the same way I was helped, helping my community and the young people who live there.
How much do you owe to Laureus and Fight for Peace for where you are today?
It’s priceless! Laureus was one of the earliest supporters of the Fight for Peace Academy, and always believed in the work that was being done, they always believed in the potential of the young people and were always willing to support, even up to today.
I am eternally grateful to all this support and also to Luke Dowdney, who has chosen the community where I live to develop this beautiful work that has changed my life through the Academy.
The Fight for Peace Academy… forever!!!
Laureus will be following Roberto in his pursuit of a place in the Brazilian Team for the London Games. So be sure to follow on Twitter @LaureusSport for any new updates on Roberto.
If you’ve stopped by our news section today you will have seen that Oscar Pistorius, the South African Paralympic 400 metre runner known as ‘The Blade Runner’, has been chosen to compete for South Africa at this year’s World Championships in August.
Joining us in sending congrats to Oscar today is our Academy Vice-Chair, the legendary Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson.
She told us this morning: ” This is an amazing day for Oscar and proves that if you have the talent, ability and passion, you can achieve your goals. Oscar has been chosen by the South African selectors on merit and I wish him the best of luck in the World Championships in Daegu later this month.”
Oscar had to have both legs below the knee amputed as a child having been born without vital bones in each leg
Oscar is one of our Laureus Ambassadors and he has been working tirelessly to compete at the highest levels of his sport for years now. And, so, it’s fantastic to see him being selected for the South African World Championship squad after clocking the qualifying time last month. (See here)
South African sporting legend Oscar Pistorius, the man known as the Blade Runner, celebrated becoming the newest member of the Laureus Friends & Ambassadors programme, by announcing his goal is to compete in both the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
A brilliant Paralympic sprinter, Pistorius, 23, a double amputee who runs with the aid of carbon fibre artificial lower legs, has been breaking down barriers between disabled and able-bodied sport, famously winning a court case in 2008 which allowed him to compete in top level able-bodied sport.
In the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, he won gold medals at 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres in the T44 category, but failed to reach the qualifying time for the 400 metres in the Olympic Games.
Pistorius, speaking in Manchester where he is competing in the 2010 Paralympic World Cup, said: “This is a very special day for me. I am honoured to become a member of the Laureus Family. I know what it is to struggle to achieve something against the odds and there is nothing more important for successful sportsmen and women than to help young people who may have the cards stacked against them in life.
“2012 is a really big goal for me. Coming to London for the Paralympic and Olympic Games would be a dream that I’ve been chasing for the last five years. In 2008 I was a quarter of a second away from qualifying for the Olympics, but this time I’m sure that’s going to happen.
“I’m still quite young, so I think with the experience I need to gain over the next two years, whether it be to rest in a better fashion or diet better or train smarter, these are all things that are going to help me bring my time down, so I’m pretty confident I will be able to make the London 2012 qualification times. I’ll definitely be pushing for it,” he added.
Pistorius will be going for the 400 metres in the 2012 Olympics, as he feels he has more chance of reaching the qualifying time in that distance rather than his stronger Paralympic events, the 100 and 200 metres. He said: “So I will be going for the 400 metres at the able-bodied Olympics, plus four events at the Paralympics – the 100, 200 and 400 metres and the relay.”
Welcoming Pistorius as a Laureus Friend & Ambassador, Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said: “I am delighted to be able to welcome Oscar as one of our Laureus ambassadors. He is a very passionate competitor and as we all know a fighter for what he believes in. We are very lucky that in addition to pursuing his highly successful career he also wants to devote his energy and commitment to Laureus. I know he will be an energetic worker for the causes that the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation supports.”
Pistorius was born with congenital absence of the fibula in both legs. When he was 11-months-old, his legs were amputated halfway between his knees and ankles. A sports fanatic, between the ages of 11 and 13, he played rugby union, tennis, water polo and wrestling. He was introduced to running in January 2004 and began to make an immediate impact in the Paralympic world, coming first in the 200 metres and third in the 100 metres in the Athens Paralympic Games that year. In the 2005 Paralympic World Cup he won gold in the 100 and 200 metres and the following year at the Paralympic World Championships he won gold in 100, 200 and 400 metres.
Pistorius made a historic sporting breakthrough in 2007 when he competed in two non-disabled races. On July 13, he ran in the 400 metres at Rome’s Golden Gala and finished second with a time of 46.90 secs behind Stefano Braciola’s time of 46.72 secs. Two days later at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix in Sheffield he finished seventh in 47.65 secs.
He said then his goal was to compete in the Olympic Games. However, his artificial lower legs, while enabling him to compete, generated claims that he had an unfair advantage over able-bodied runners. The same year, the International Association of Athletics Federations amended its competition rules to ban the use of a ‘technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete.’ The IAAF ruled him ineligible for competition, including the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
However Pistorius appealed and the decision was reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in May 2008, the court ruling that the IAAF had not provided sufficient evidence to prove that Pistorius’s prostheses give him an advantage over able-bodied athletes.
Although eligible to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Pistorius did not qualify for the South African team. Despite achieving third place and a personal best of 46.25 seconds in the 400 metres in Lucerne in July, this was short of the Olympic qualification time.
In 2006, Pistorius was conferred with the Order of Ikhamanga in bronze by the President of South Africa for outstanding sporting achievement. In December 2007 he was presented with the BBC Helen Rollason Award which is conferred for outstanding courage and achievement in the face of adversity. And in 2008 he was nominated for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.
