It was not an easy choice for Brazilian taekwondo fighter Diogo Silva -- buy a car for his mother or try to win a gold medal.
He chose the latter. And it paid off big time on Sunday when he beat Peru's Peter Lopez to win taekwondo's 68kg men's title and grab the host nation's first gold medal at the Pan American Games.
"I bet I'll be able to get my mom a car a lot easier now," he said on Monday.
Silva made the front pages of nearly all Brazilian newspapers, and said some sponsors had already been lined up.
He had been saving money to buy the car for his mother, Telma, so she didn't have to work her manicure job using public transportation. Then an opportunity to compete in Europe came up and he had to make a decision.
"I chose to go to Europe because I knew it would help me get good results in the future," he said. "And here I am, with the gold medal on my chest." He said he had already saved about US$2,700 to buy the car for his mother before having to use it in the trip to Europe.
Silva earns US$321 a month from the Brazilian Taekwondo Confederation, "and that's when they don't delay payment."
He couldn't hold back tears at the podium on Sunday as a vibrant crowd loudly sang the national anthem.
"I remembered all the times I saw other athletes in that position and how much I wanted it to be me some time," Silva said.
During his victory lap, with the Brazilian flag on his back, Silva yelled, "It's ours, it's ours," to the delighted crowd.
Silva said he has to give much thanks to his mother, who kept him out of the streets in the interior city of Campinas, about 100km from Sao Paulo.
"Where I come from, we look up to those who hold guns in their hands," he said. "But when I was a child, my mom made me go to taekwondo practice."
He added he was hoping to go home soon so he could "see his mother for the first time in six months."
And maybe even bring her a new car.
Safe sex proves popular
Safe sex is rife in the athletes' Village at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, but not so much in the traditional tourist areas of the city.
"Athletes exhausted the stock of condoms within 24 hours," Brazilian daily O Globo reported on Monday.
The report added, however, that traditional nightclubs with erotic shows, like Barbarella, Cicciolina and Help, in Copacabana, were not witnessing as much movement as they hoped.
In addition, "prostitutes are complaining that the Pan American Games did not bring the increase in tourists that they had hoped for," the daily reported.
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