Delivering memorable Olympic Games is not enough for the Rio 2016 Organising Committee. Eighteen days after the Closing Ceremony of the greatest sporting event on the planet, the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony draws the world attention to the Wonderful City once more. The same spirit, the same charm, the same venues and organisation standard will be at audience’s and athletes’ disposal. Every professional involved in the Games will also be able to enjoy all of this, thanks to, mostly, the team if Paralympic Games integration run by Mariana Mello.

Former professional judoka, Paralympic women’s Judo Brazilian team coach, Master in Human Motility Science, Mariana Mello’s résumé also includes the function of Results supervisor on the Rio 2007 Pan and Para Pan-American Games and her participation in the whole process of Rio de Janeiro victorious bid competition to the 2016 Games.

“The Pan and Para Pan-American Games experience were crucial for everyone in our team. For the first time, Games of this calibre – except for the Olympic and Paralympic Games – have taken place together, one after the other. It was a case of success, that is being replicate in other continents since then. We learned a lot, it was an excellent starting point to our challenge of organising 2016”, recalls the Manager, whose functional area is part of the Committee Strategic Department.

Mariana and her team are responsible for following up, assisting and monitoring all departments in terms of Paralympic Games deliverables. The goal is to make the Committee work for both events (Olympic and Paralympic) with the same level of excellence and nourish the Olympic and Paralympic ideals with the same level of determination.

Passion for Judo

Encouraged by her family to practice sport since she was a little girl, the first contact of the future judoka with the discipline has happened by chance.

“I have always liked the sport very much. With 11, 12 years old, my brother went to train Judo. Once he was much younger than me, I took him to the training session and waited him to finish the class to take him home. Then, I decided to attend Judo classes too. I was complicated in the beginning, because the teacher didn’t accepted a girl as his student. That time (1984), it was not common to see girls wrestling. Then, I had to convince him first. Afterwards, at home, neither my parents liked the idea very much. I managed to convince them. At last, my brother abandoned Judo, but I continued”, she tells.

Six years after that, Mariana got to black belt. She started achieving good results in national competitions and was training to the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games trials when she had a motorcycle accident. Two years later, she was invited to leave Rio de Janeiro to train in Pinheiros, São Paulo traditional club, that was assembling its first women’s Judo team. With more interchange and international trips, she was one of the favourites in the Atlanta 1996 trials. A knee injury in the final combat and the resulting operations had put an end to the Olympic dream as athlete. Her journey in sport, however, was just beginning.

She has a bachelor degree in Physical Education, was coach of Judo base teams and had her first contact with Paralympic sport: “In 2001, I was invited to be the Judo Paralympic Brazilian team coach. In 2004, I would be the first participation of women, in Athens. I started to work with the girls, we went to the World Championship, returned with two or three medals, and I notice an enormous potential there. It was a sport that was beginning to gain space in the world. The ones who worked better in the beginning would head the sport.”

Past, present and future

After being coach, Mariana was invited to coordinate Paralympic Judo events in Brazil, aiming to increase the level and attract more athletes. In 2004, she met Agberto Guimarães, Sports Director of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee, who took her to the Pan and Para Pan-American project, and, subsequently, to the Olympic and Paralympic bid.

From her career as judoka till the current position in the Rio 2016 Committee, she has experienced the sport development in Brazil and the world as few. “Today, Judo is the second more practiced sport in Brazil. The amount of girls has increased a lot since my time. The structure has also increased a lot. When I used to compete, it was hard to believe that the changes we see today would happen. First, the issue of the colourful kimono. Nothing besides the white one was accepted, even in the training sessions. It has changed because of the television broadcast, for a better visualisation of the blows.”

“Then, the Judo technique. The original Japanese way of combat, with a lot of technique, a lot of beautiful movements, was lost with the growth of East Europe, with a Judo that uses more the strength. It was deprived of its characteristics. So, pursuing the return to origins, the Judo international community is changing the rules. One example is koka [it was the lowest scoring and was excluded from the rules]. Many blows of grabbing the leg and fall in a sitting position gave the victory for a single point. They want to encourage the pursuit of ippon. They are recover Judo as it was when I started. In 20 years, it has left the way, it has gone to the opposite side and now they are trying to get it back to the initial way”, she completes.

Eternal Judo fan, the current position requires a more global vision. In the Paralympic Games, 22 sports will be held in a twelve days period. Till then, five years of work in full time. In the greatest sporting event of the planet in 2016, Olympic and Paralympic has the same charm, the same spirit. And the same Organising Committee.