In the apartment building where judoka Lucia Teixeira lives in São Paulo, almost no one knew she won a silver medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. In the town of Uberlândia, in Minas Gerais state, hardly anyone congratulated powerlifter Luciano ‘the Mountain’ Bezerra Dantas, for the bronze medal he won at this year’s Parapan American Games in Toronto. In Vinicius Rodrigues’s home town of Maringá, in the chilly south of Brazil, only those closest to him were following his efforts to qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

But, in the last two weeks, life has changed for these three athletes. Since a hidden-camera video featuring the trio went viral on the internet, they have finally started to receive the recognition they deserve. Produced to promote Paralympic Games ticket sales, the two-minute film shows the stunned reaction of gym regulars in Rio when the three para-athletes turn up and perform incredible feats, smashing preconceptions about athletes with a disability. Up to 17 September, the video, below, had been viewed more than 18 million times online.

“This video has had more effect than all of my results in competition put together,” said Teixeira, the visually impaired judoka who shocked her able-bodied opponents in the video – including the champion of Rio – by throwing everyone onto their backs. “Old childhood friends have been getting in touch and tagging me on Facebook, loads of people I don’t know have been writing on my page. The other day I was in the elevator and my neighbour, who is a teacher, asked if I could go and speak to kids in her school. Before this video, hardly anyone knew I was an athlete.”

Dantas revealed that he had been disappointed with the public’s reaction when he returned from the Parapan American Games in July. “Brazil’s Paralympic athletes won 116 more medals than our Olympic colleagues in Toronto, but when we returned home, almost nobody knew about our conquests,” said the powerlifter with dwarfism, who amazed fellow gym goers in the video by bench pressing more than twice his own body weight. “Now people stop to greet me in the street, ask for autographs and photos. This video showed that if the Paralympic Games get a lot of television coverage, the public will get behind para-athletes.”

‘The Mountain’ said such recognition made a difference in the daily lives of athlete. “It gives us more motivation to get up in the morning, to train hard and perform to our best.”

Lucia Teixeira (in blue) takes on Azerbaijan's Afag Sultanova at the London 2012 Games (Photo: Getty Images/Dennis Grombkowski)

For sprinter Rodrigues, who is now based in São Paulo, his new-found fame means he can inspire others as he was inspired himself during his darkest hour. After losing part of his left leg in a motorbike accident 18 months ago, he was visited in hospital by three-time Paralympic Games champion Terezinha Guilhermina, who shares her home town with Rodrigues.

“She showed me a video of Heinrich Popow (Germany’s 100m champion in the T42 amputee class at London 2012) running with a prosthetic blade, and she gave me the outfit she used at the Beijing 2008 Games. I cried all night and two days later I decided to stop complaining and change my life,” said Rodrigues, who hopes to represent Brazil in the 100m and 200m in the same category as Popow at next year’s Games.

Rodrigues contacted Popow on Facebook and asked for help, and the German recommended the Brazilian to São Paulo-based rehabilitation specialist Marian Weiss, who introduces recent amputees to sports and works with a number of Paralympians. “Five months after the accident, I was learning how to run with a prosthetic leg. This was only possible because of the inspiration of these athletes. Now, after the video, it’s my turn to continue this cycle, to be someone who can inspire others. People from all over the world are contacting me on social networks.”