The Most Famous

WRESTLERS from Brazil

Icon of occuation in country

This page contains a list of the greatest Brazilian Wrestlers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,027 Wrestlers, 8 of which were born in Brazil. This makes Brazil the birth place of the 25th most number of Wrestlers behind India, and Bulgaria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Brazilian Wrestlers of all time. This list of famous Brazilian Wrestlers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Brazilian Wrestlers.

Photo of Aurélio Miguel

1. Aurélio Miguel (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 38.59, Aurélio Miguel is the most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Aurélio Fernández Miguel (born 10 March 1964) is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic champion, and later politician. Among his best sporting achievements are his gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Photo of Rogério Sampaio

2. Rogério Sampaio (b. 1967)

With an HPI of 34.84, Rogério Sampaio is the 2nd most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Rogério Sampaio Cardoso (born 12 September 1967 in Santos) is a Brazilian judoka and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He dedicated his medal to his brother Ricardo, who fought in the 1988 Summer Olympics and committed suicide in 1991 after a love disappointment. Sampaio started at judo when he was four, since his mom thought he was restless and needed more discipline. After the Olympics, he won a bronze medal at the 1993 World Judo Championships. But then injuries hurt his career, making him miss both the 1995 Pan American Games and the 1996 Summer Olympics, in which he went only to coach Danielle Zangrando and as a TV commentator. He retired from international competition in 1998. After retirement, Sampaio runs a dojo in Santos, from which Olympic medalist Leandro Guilheiro originated, and acts as TV commentator. He also coached the Brazilian women's judo team at the 2001 Universiade (fellow Olympic champion Aurélio Miguel coached the masculine). Rogerio Sampaio is the actual General Secretary of the National Antidoping Agency of Brazil.

Photo of Rafaela Silva

3. Rafaela Silva (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 32.31, Rafaela Silva is the 3rd most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Rafaela Lopes Silva (born 24 April 1992) is a Brazilian judoka. She won gold medals at the World Judo Championships of 2013 and 2022 and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the –57 kg weight division. Currently, she occupies the rank of graduation third sergeant in the Navy of Brazil and integrates the Center of Physical Education Admiral Nunes (CEFAN), the Military Sports Department. In August 2013, she was the first Brazilian woman to become a world champion in Judo.

Photo of Tiago Camilo

4. Tiago Camilo (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 31.89, Tiago Camilo is the 4th most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Tiago Henrique de Oliveira Camilo (born 24 May 1982) is a judoka from Brazil, who won the silver medal in the lightweight (‍–‍73 kg) division at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He also won a gold medal at the 2007 World Judo Championships, and was the third Brazilian to become a world champion in judo, after João Derly and Luciano Corrêa. At the 2008 Summer Olympics he won a bronze medal in the ‍–‍81 kg category. At the 2012 Olympic Games, he lost the bronze medal match to Ilias Iliadis in the ‍–‍90 kg weight division.

Photo of Felipe Kitadai

5. Felipe Kitadai (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 31.45, Felipe Kitadai is the 5th most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Felipe Kitadai (born July 28, 1989) is a judoka from Brazil. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and a gold at the 2011 Pan American Games. He also won gold medals six consecutive times in the Pan American Games Judo Championships: at 2011 Guadalaraja, 2012 Montreal, 2013 San José, 2014 Guayaquil, 2015 Edmonton and 2016 Havana.

Photo of Leandro Guilheiro

6. Leandro Guilheiro (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 30.52, Leandro Guilheiro is the 6th most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Leandro Marques Guilheiro (born 7 August 1983) is a Brazilian male judoka. He won bronze medals in the lightweight (‍–‍73 kg) division at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He became the first Brazilian judoka to win medals at two consecutive Olympic Games. Guilheiro plays a classical style of judo fighting in an upright stance and using techniques such as uchi mata, ippon seoi nage, morate seoi nage and o soto gari. He has done modeling work in Brazil.

Photo of Sarah Menezes

7. Sarah Menezes (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 30.41, Sarah Menezes is the 7th most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Sarah Gabrielle Cabral de Menezes (born 26 March 1990) is a judoka from Brazil. In 2012, she became the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in judo, after defeating the reigning Olympic champion Alina Dumitru. She also competed at the 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Menezes won her first major medal by claiming bronze at the World Judo Championships in Tokyo in September 2010. Menezes retired in 2020, as she got pregnant from French judoka Loic Pietri, and their daughter was born in May 2021. In 2021, she was approached by the Brazilian Judo Confederation to coach the national team. In the 2024 Summer Olympics, Menezes coached Larissa Pimenta to a bronze medal and Beatriz Souza to the gold.

Photo of Rafael Silva

8. Rafael Silva (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 30.34, Rafael Silva is the 8th most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Rafael Carlos da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [ʁafaˈew ˈsiwvɐ]; born 11 May 1987) is a Brazilian heavyweight judoka. He has two Olympic bronze medals (London 2012 and Rio 2016) in addition to having 4 individual medals in World Judo Championships (one silver and three bronze), in addition to being a six-time Pan American Judo champion.

Photo of Larissa Pimenta

9. Larissa Pimenta (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 0.00, Larissa Pimenta is the 9th most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Larissa Cincinato Pimenta (born 1 March 1999) is a Brazilian judoka. A two-time Olympian, she won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. At the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru, she won the gold medal in the 52 kg event. She is also a five-time gold medalist in her event at the Pan American Judo Championships.

Photo of Rafael Buzacarini

10. Rafael Buzacarini (b. )

With an HPI of 0.00, Rafael Buzacarini is the 10th most famous Brazilian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Rafael Augusto Buzacarini (born 6 October 1991) is a heavyweight judoka from Brazil. He won two silver medals at the 2020 and 2022 Pan American Judo Championships and qualified for the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.

People

Pantheon has 22 people classified as Brazilian wrestlers born between 1964 and 1999. Of these 22, 22 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Brazilian wrestlers include Aurélio Miguel, Rogério Sampaio, and Rafaela Silva. As of April 2024, 14 new Brazilian wrestlers have been added to Pantheon including Larissa Pimenta, Rafael Buzacarini, and Maryna Slutskaya.

Living Brazilian Wrestlers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Newly Added Brazilian Wrestlers (2024)

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous