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In a career spanning over 23 years at an international level, Emmanuel Silva won medals at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships and at other major international competitions. In 2002, at Junior European Championships he won Portugal’s first medal at Canoe Sprint European Championships, a bronze in K1 1000 meters in Zagreb, Croatia. The last time Portugal had reached the podium in canoe sprint, prior to Silva’s success, was seven years earlier, in 1995, when Sergio Varela won bronze in K1 500 meters at the Junior World Championships in Yamanashi, Japan. This Asian country brought another milestone for the young Portuguese athlete. Competing in his second Junior World Championships in Komatsu, Silva wrote history again. He won a silver medal in K1 1000 meters, and the next day, he claimed the gold in K1 500 meters, making it Portugal’s first-ever gold medal in Junior World Championships and the first in an Olympic distance (the K1 500 meters was an Olympic event until 2008). He was also winning titles and medals in the U23 age group.

 

Emmanuel Silva claimed seven medals at senior European Championships, including two European Champion titles. In 2011 he won gold in men’s K4 1000 metres event, and in 2014 he won the title in men’s K2 500 metres event alongside Joao Ribeiro. At the World Championships he won gold medal in 2013 and silver a year later.

 

His Olympic debut came in 2004 in Athens, followed by participation in Beijing four years later. The biggest success came at the 2012 London Olympics, where he picked up silver medal in men’s K2 1000 metres event together with Fernando Pimenta, four years later he was again in the fdight for the medal in Rio de Janeiro, however was left outside the medals after intense final race. His participation at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo concluded his paddling under the Olympic rings.