Sao Paulo (AFP)

“Without racism, where would my career be?” Asks Angelo Assumpçao, a black Brazilian gymnast, whose skin color has been compared to a garbage bag, in an interview with AFP.

At 24, he still dreams of an Olympic medal, even though he has been training for ten months alone, in his garden.

In November 2019, this young man who grew up in a poor suburb of Sao Paulo had to leave the Pinheiros club, where he had been playing since the age of eight.

This upscale club, founded in 1899 and nestled in an affluent district of the megalopolis, where it was most of the time the only black in the gym section, says it broke its contract for questions of "performance" and "behavior".

But Angelo Assumpçao ensures that his exclusion is a form of punishment for having denounced racial discrimination within the club.

Racism remains a very present scourge in Brazil, the last country in America to have abolished slavery in 1888, and where more than half of the population is black or mestizo.

- Depression -

And Angelo Assumpçao felt it more than ever at the height of his career.

In 2015, he won the gold medal in vaulting during a World Cup stage at his home in Sao Paulo, after replacing at short notice Arthur Nory, another hope in Brazilian gym.

A few days later, Nory, who is of Japanese origin, posted on social networks a video in which he appeared making racist jokes with two other young gymnasts in front of Assumpçao, who attended the scene looking dumbfounded. .

"What color are the supermarket bags? White! And the trash bags? Black!", We can hear in this video.

They eventually apologized and were suspended for a month by the Brazilian Gymnastics Federation.

But since this event, Angelo Assumpçao's career has collapsed.

"Comparing myself to garbage, it goes beyond all limits," he told AFP.

“Being a victim of racism in Brazil is expensive, while Arthur Nory's life has continued,” he continues.

Not qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016, Assumpçao saw his tormentor, Nory, win the bronze medal on floor.

At the time, he praised his former teammate, while advising him to also be "a champion outside the gym".

Today, Angelo Assumpçao reveals to have sunk into depression because of this episode of racism, then others suffered within the Pinheiros club.

At first, he preferred to remain silent.

"I did not want to file a complaint because I was afraid that it would harm my career," he admits.

- "Lonely" -

In 2019, Pinheiros, whose members have won twelve Olympic medals throughout history, conducted an internal audit that identified "racial slurs" and "bullying" issues, Globoesporte.com revealed on the month. latest.

But the club denied in a statement to AFP that the breach of Assumpçao's contract was motivated by racial issues.

The young gymnast denounces for his part the "structural racism" within the institution.

He also says that some made fun of his braids, believing that they were not worthy of a high level athlete.

"After my departure from Pinheiros, I looked for another club, without success. The gym is a closed environment and people talk to each other," he breathes.

"I also tried to find a club abroad, but the pandemic arrived and I had to resolve to train at home."

Without competition for over a year and without a contract for ten months, he survives thanks to the help of relatives, who have created an online kitty to help him.

He says he is "lonely" in his fight, black Brazilian athletes not having the support of institutions or sponsors like the stars of the NBA in the United States, on the front line in the Black Lives Matter movement which denounces racial injustices .

Problems of racism in sport have returned to the heart of the debate in Brazil with the Neymar affair, which accused Spanish defender Alvaro Gonzalez of calling him a "monkey" during the sulphurous PSG-OM game last Sunday.

"It shows that, even if we are one of the best sportsmen in the world, rich, recognized, we are still judged on the color of our skin", regrets Angelo Assumpçao.

© 2020 AFP