When I was a young kid I wanted to be a super hero.
When I realised I wasn't a super hero I saw a guy called Joaquim Cruz,
winning a gold Olympic medal in Los Angeles Olympics,
and I realised that if I couldn't fly I could try and do those kind of things, be an Olympic hero.
Every time I went to University or anywhere I would pass Rocinha.
One of the directors, he was developing a non profit social project in Rocinha
and I told him after I came back from Sydney that I would love to join as a volunteer.
I realised pretty soon that we had a very strong tool on our hands.
He took on all of us as if we were his children.
The way I see it is that he has an indomitable spirit.
If he managed to get where he did in such a short time, anyone who believes in themselves can.
The children who lived around me in Cidade de Deus,
were quite aggressive,
There were children of 11 or 12 with guns in their hands,
passing us in the street.
There was even a cousin of ours who got involved
with drug gangs and so I thought that
was going to be my future.
Then there were the 2004 Olympics which Flavio took part in,
and I was already going to Instituto Reação,
and we went to pick him up from the airport, and I was able
to hold his bronze medal that he won at the Olympics.
I think the penny started to drop there,
that could be me coming home from a trip and I could
be able to give all that happiness to my family.
We have three programmes in Reação,
the Olympic programme is the one that developed, for instance Rafaela Silva,
the first female world champion in Brazil, she amazing,
she's probably going to be in the Olympics.
We have the educational programme,
the kids after judo class they go to one of the classrooms
and they study with one of our teachers
and we have the judo school and martial arts.
We have a sentence over there that means
"a man is the size of their dreams".
So we try to teach them and tell them that they
can dream higher than they thought they could.
They can go to school, they can have a University degree
and this is what we try to do with them everyday.
Morally, Flavio's character, he is an extraordinary person.
Because, from very young, Flavio was always
looking at the social aspects.
From the very start, Flavio was always someone who gave.
Geraldo Bernardes my coach,
he was sceptical and he told me "You've got to focus,
you can do that after you stop Judo,
that's not time to do those kind of things",
and I was telling him "Geraldo, the energy they give
is much bigger than the energy I give them.
I learn much more than I teach.
My best results came after Reação. I had a reason to fight.
Now Geraldo is one of the most important guys in Reação,
and he's responsible for the Olympic programme
and I'm sure now he knows I was right.
Before my sister or I got in to judo, we were pretty rebellious,
we weren't interested in going to school,
and sport radically changed our lives.
It was transformational, like water to wine.
Flavio, for me, is a mirror to follow.
And he said something to me that I have followed by whole life:
your past is not your destiny.
Just because I was born in an underprivileged, low-income setting,
that doesn't mean that that will be my future.
I learnt so much with sports.
I learnt how to lose, how to come back. I'm definitely a better man.
When they put their uniform, the Judo gear, they become like super heroes,
they can do anything.
I really believe that everything they train here they take back home.
So they're braver, they are better, they're ready to face the world.
I don't know any better tool than sport to build stronger people,
ready to fight for whatever they need to fight for.