El deporte y la idolatría: la caminata heroica de la judoca brasileña Rafaela Silva en los Juegos Olímpicos Londres 2012 e Río 2016

The article analyzes the narrative of the brazilian newspaper O Globo about mediatic construction of the heroine image of the judo brazilian athlete Rafaela Silva. Many journalistic examples were searched with nominal athlete’s citations published in sports editions in 2012 (London Games) and in 2016 (Rio Games). Based on hero theory concept, it has been verified that the athlete was presented as a character that goes through the stages of the journey proposed by Campbell (1995). The conclusion of Helal, Cabo and Marques (2009), confirmed by Amaro (2014), ratifies a specific vocabulary used by sports press about the Olympic medalists. This is valuable to show her route. Textual references such as "overcoming” and "dedication", associated with Rafaela’s life, also allow us to identify repeated characteristics that prove how the Olympic heroes imaginary are treated by specialized media that helps the consumption of the megaevent.