Among the numerous striking images from Day 10 of Paris Olympic Games 2024, a highly noteworthy one was that of Brazil's Bruna Alexandre, a 29-year-old table tennis player competing in the women's team pre-quarter-finals against South Korea on Monday (August 5). (Medal Table | Schedule & Results | Full Coverage)
Alexandre is one of just two TT players participating in the Paris Olympics as well as Paralympics this year. Her and Australia’s Melissa Tapper are thus set to join an elite list of athletes to have achieved the Summer Games double.
The Brazilian had her right arm amputated due to a blood cot when she was a few months old. Tapper, 34, has brachial plexus palsy, a type of paralysis to her right arm caused during her birth.
Alexandre is the first athlete from Brazil to qualify for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same cycle. A two-time Paralympic medallist, she is eyeing glory in the Olympics now.
“I am very happy for this opportunity to represent all Brazilians with disabilities at the Olympic Games and show that I can play on an equal footing with any athlete,” Alexandre was quoted as saying the Paris Paralympic Games website. “I have the dream of being a Paralympic champion and playing against athletes without disabilities strengthens me in pursuit of this goal," she added.
Earlier this year, the 29-year-old told Olympics.com and World Table Tennis that her qualification for the Olympics shows that "everything is possible". She added: "I think this makes me more willing to want to continue and pursue my dreams, thinking not only of myself, but of all people with disabilities.
"I hope that someday this will be something normal in the world: a disabled person playing against someone who has both arms, regardless of disability."
