Maria da Lurdes Mutola! atleta moçambicana, campeã dos 800m nos Jogos Olímpicos de Sydney em 2000

Mozambican athlete, 800m champion at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Maria de Lurdes Mutola was born in Maputo on October 27, 1972. She is the daughter of João Mutola, a worker for the Mozambique Railways, and Catarina Mutola, a housewife. The family, of humble means, moved from Inhambane in the 1970s and settled in Chamanculo, a suburban neighborhood of the Mozambican capital. In the early 1970s, Chamanculo was a poor neighborhood, lacking basic sanitation and drinking water. Conditions in the neighborhood changed radically with the sudden arrival of thousands of Mozambicans fleeing the war that ravaged the country between 1976 and 1992. Housing conditions in Chamanculo deteriorated with the overcrowding. However, it was in Chamanculo, where her father built the family home, a hut made of wood and zinc, that the Mutolas were born and still live. Lurdinhas, as she is affectionately known, entered primary school at the Chamanculo Mixed School, a school now named in her honor: Maria de Lurdes Mutola Primary School. She was born with a love of sports. She skipped school several times to participate in soccer practices in the surrounding areas and in her neighborhood. Mutola's parents were annoyed by this attitude, believing that academics should come first in any child's life. However, when it came to taking exams at school, Lurdinhas always gave her all and always managed to pass the class. But her parents wanted more effort in school and decided to punish Mutola by sending her to Maxixe, in the province of Inhambane. Lurdes lived with her older sister, Gina, for approximately three years. Away from her parents and friends, she seemed to be adjusting her preference for after-school activities. This change, however, was only apparent. Lurdinhas had learned to better balance school and sports. In Inhambane, Maria de Lurdes progressed in her studies and physical training. After three years, Gina moved to northern Mozambique, and Lurdes Mutola returned home to Chamanculo. She still hadn't resolved her connection to sports. To make matters worse: since she was one of the few girls in Inhambane to play sports, Lurdinhas learned to socialize with boys, and her parents' reluctance toward this hobby took on a new dimension. At the time, a women's soccer tournament had begun between neighborhoods in the city of Maputo. There was talk of a "star" who played very well and attracted the attention of a wide audience. One fine day, the Mutola family was resting, sighing with relief, convinced that she was at school studying. On the way home, João Mutola was commenting to a co-worker about his daughter's good behavior, prioritizing her schoolwork. The co-worker suggested they stop by a sports field where the UFA women's championship was taking place. Excitedly, the friend told him that if they were in time to watch a women's soccer match, they might be able to verify the existence of a certain girl who, it was said, played better than the men. The girl was fast, intelligent, and, above all, she scored beautiful goals and performed incredible dribbles. Arriving at the field, João Mutola nearly fell over. That excellent player was his daughter, Maria de Lurdes. Her father, at the time, was unable to appreciate his daughter's athletic qualities. He felt deceived and, rather than punishing his daughter, he blamed himself for his naivety in believing that his daughter had given in to the primacy of studies.