Meet Brazilian athletes who also have sporty parents

Cases of athletes who follow their parents’ careers are not rare. You yourself must know families full of doctors, lawyers, journalists or musicians, for example. In sport, cases happen in droves, but not always in the same modality. How about a basketball player’s son who decides to dedicate himself to equestrianism?

In this period preceding the Children’s Daythe team of incredible.club put together a list of some of these examples of athletes who are children of athletes to test their knowledge. Do you already know all the ones we selected?

Ok, they are no longer children, but the question remains: would you like your child to follow the same profession as you?

Two-time longboard surfing world champion, the 36-year-old from Rio de Janeiro practices a sport that is completely different from his father. Phil is the son of Bernard Rajzman, an athlete who made history on the Brazilian national volleyball team — was a silver medalist at the 1984 Olympic Games. Before reaching the top, he even made crowdfunding among friends to travel to competitions. He is also the creator of a social project aimed at low-income children from communities in Rio.

His mother has a title of nobility in her surname, is a world champion, Olympic medalist and one of the best basketball players of all time. João Victor is the son of Hydrangea, the queen of basketball. The former player claims that she never encouraged her son to follow basketball. On the contrary: she tried to keep him away from the modality, because she thought he would be overcharged. A dressage specialist, João was part of the Brazilian team that competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Bruninho, as the titular setter of the Brazilian volleyball team is known, is the son of not one, but two former athletes, and in the same modality. His mother, Vera Mossa, was one of the great players in the country in the 1980s and competed in three Olympics. His father, Bernardinho, was a silver medalist at the 1984 Games, but as a substitute. He was more successful as a coach, winning Olympic and world titles, including managing Bruninho.

Martine was brave in deciding to follow the same sport as her father: she is the daughter of Torben Grael, one of the greatest sailors of all time and owner of five Olympic medals, two of them gold. But the 27-year-old athlete from Rio de Janeiro did well: in 2016, in Rio, she became Olympic champion in the 49er FX class — in the photo she appears to the left of Kahena Kunze, her partner on the boat. Martine’s uncle is also in the business: Lars Grael, who has two bronze medals in the Olympic Games.

He was born in Italy, is a naturalized Spaniard (he even defends the country’s national team), plays for Bayern Munich, in Germany, but has very Brazilian blood. The midfielder is the son of Mazinho, holder of the Brazilian national team that won the 1994 World Cup. Thiago, who could even have defended Brazil, was Spain’s number 10 in the 2018 World Cup, but did not manage to go very far: the Fury ended up eliminated on penalties, in the round of 16, by Russia.

This one is not difficult to get right: Nelsinho is the son of three-time Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet. Although he has passed through the category, his main mark there was having crashed on purpose in the 2008 Singapore GP to benefit his then teammate, Fernando Alonso. Today, he races in Stock Car and Formula E, the electric car category in which he was champion in 2015. Brothers Pedro and Geraldo are also drivers.

Father and son are two equestrian legends. Rodrigo is Olympic champion in the individual jump in 2004 and owner of two bronzes in the team jump in 1996 and 2000. His father is Nelson Pessoa, respected worldwide and a member of the Brazilian team in five editions of the Olympic Games, from 1956 to 1992 , but without having won medals.

And you, do you remember any absence from our list?

Any Brazilian athlete whose mother or father is also an athlete? O awesome.club want to know, leave your comment and say which of these sportsmen is the best in your opinion.