Victor Alvares de Oliveira | |
---|---|
Born | 1996 or 1997 (age 27–28) |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
Sport | Fencing |
Weapon | Foil |
Hand | right-handed [1] |
Victor Alvares de Oliveira (born 1996 or 1997) [2] is a Cape Verdean foil fencer. He qualified to represent Cape Verde at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Alvares de Oliveira was born to a Cape Verdean father and a Spanish-Portuguese mother; he grew up in Reims, France, and has dual Cape Verdean-French citizenship. [3] [4] According to Olympics.com, he grew up with severe asthma and thus spent "large portions of his formative years in the confines of paediatric wards." [3] He liked the sport of fencing growing up, but doctors give him little chance of ever being successful in the sport due to his condition. [3] However, he began competing in foil events nonetheless and still managed to perform well; he said that "I still had to do twice the effort of other athletes when we were doing exercises. But my asthma was getting better." [3]
Alvares de Oliveira, a member of the club Courbevoie Escrime, [5] rose through the fencing ranks and made the French national team. [3] He also ranked at one time in the top 20 globally for junior foil fencers. [6] He moved to Paris to train further in fencing, with the goal of ultimately reaching the Olympics. [3] In 2018, he contacted the Cape Verdean sports authorities with the intention of honoring his father's heritage by competing internationally for them. [3] He competed for them at the Fencing World Cup in 2019 and became the first-ever professional fencer for Cape Verde; he had the second-best placement among African foil fencers at the tournament. [3] [5] [7] He competed for Cape Verde at the Fencing Grand Prix in 2021, with hopes of qualifying for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics, although he did not qualify, with a loss to Salim Heroui in the final. [3] [6] [8] Although unable to qualify for the Olympics that year, he participated at the African championships and won the silver medal. [9]
Alvares de Oliveira competed for Cape Verde at the 2022 African championships and at the 2023 World Fencing Championships, where he placed 78th out of 177 participants. [3] [10] He competed at the African Olympic qualifying tournaments in 2024, but finished sixth due to an injury. [3] However, he was afterwards invited to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics on a universality selection. [11]
Victor Alvares de Oliveira | |
---|---|
Born | 1996 or 1997 (age 27–28) |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
Sport | Fencing |
Weapon | Foil |
Hand | right-handed [1] |
Victor Alvares de Oliveira (born 1996 or 1997) [2] is a Cape Verdean foil fencer. He qualified to represent Cape Verde at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Alvares de Oliveira was born to a Cape Verdean father and a Spanish-Portuguese mother; he grew up in Reims, France, and has dual Cape Verdean-French citizenship. [3] [4] According to Olympics.com, he grew up with severe asthma and thus spent "large portions of his formative years in the confines of paediatric wards." [3] He liked the sport of fencing growing up, but doctors give him little chance of ever being successful in the sport due to his condition. [3] However, he began competing in foil events nonetheless and still managed to perform well; he said that "I still had to do twice the effort of other athletes when we were doing exercises. But my asthma was getting better." [3]
Alvares de Oliveira, a member of the club Courbevoie Escrime, [5] rose through the fencing ranks and made the French national team. [3] He also ranked at one time in the top 20 globally for junior foil fencers. [6] He moved to Paris to train further in fencing, with the goal of ultimately reaching the Olympics. [3] In 2018, he contacted the Cape Verdean sports authorities with the intention of honoring his father's heritage by competing internationally for them. [3] He competed for them at the Fencing World Cup in 2019 and became the first-ever professional fencer for Cape Verde; he had the second-best placement among African foil fencers at the tournament. [3] [5] [7] He competed for Cape Verde at the Fencing Grand Prix in 2021, with hopes of qualifying for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics, although he did not qualify, with a loss to Salim Heroui in the final. [3] [6] [8] Although unable to qualify for the Olympics that year, he participated at the African championships and won the silver medal. [9]
Alvares de Oliveira competed for Cape Verde at the 2022 African championships and at the 2023 World Fencing Championships, where he placed 78th out of 177 participants. [3] [10] He competed at the African Olympic qualifying tournaments in 2024, but finished sixth due to an injury. [3] However, he was afterwards invited to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics on a universality selection. [11]