One Arm but Competing in Both Olympics and Paralympics... Brazil's First Table Tennis Player

Selected for the 2024 Paris Olympic Team
First Brazilian to Perform on Two Stages

Bruna Alexandre (29), a Brazilian table tennis player without a right arm, will compete in both the Paralympics and the Olympics at the 2024 Paris Games.

Brazilian female table tennis player Bruna Alexandre, who will compete in both the Paralympics and the Olympics at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 9th (local time), CNN reported that the Brazilian Table Tennis Association selected Alexandre, who won four medals at the Paralympics, as a national representative for the Paris Olympics. This makes Alexandre the first Brazilian athlete to participate in both the Paralympics and the Olympics. Foreign media noted that Alexandre is the third athlete in history to compete on both the Paralympic and Olympic stages. Previously, South African male track athlete Oscar Pistorius and Polish female table tennis player Natalia Partyka competed in both events.

Alexandre expressed her joy, saying, "I couldn't believe it until the International Table Tennis Federation posted about it on Instagram." She added, "When I was a baby, someone told my parents, who were crying seeing me without an arm, that 'your daughter will achieve something to be proud of.' I share this achievement with my parents and everyone. I realized that God's dreams never die." Alexandre suffered thrombosis due to vaccine side effects at just three months old, which led to the amputation of her right arm.

Alexandre's role model and rival is Poland's "one-armed table tennis legend" Natalia Partyka, who has competed in four Olympics and won six gold, two silver, and two bronze medals at the Paralympics.

Alexandre has already achieved notable success in para table tennis. She won bronze medals in singles and team events at the 2014 Beijing World Para Table Tennis Championships and a gold medal in the team event at the 2017 Bratislava, Slovakia competition. At the 2016 Paralympics held in her home country, Rio de Janeiro, she earned bronze medals in women's singles and team events, and at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, she won a silver medal in singles. Alexandre participated in the team event at the World Table Tennis Championships held in Busan last February but was defeated by Lee Si-on (Samsung Life) at that time.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.