Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has a no-nonsense reputation, but with the World Cup starting soon, she has shown a lighter side, divulging her soccer superstitions, her love of Game of Thrones and the liberating feeling of escaping the presidential palace on a Harley-Davidson.
Rousseff, an economist by training, developed an image as a tough, efficient manager as chief of staff to her predecessor and mentor, former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and has furthered it since becoming the sprawling South American country’s first woman president.
However, the arrival of the World Cup, which Brazil is to hosting from next week Thursday to July 13, seems to have sparked a more gregarious style — a shift that may also have something to do with her bid for re-election in October.
Photo: Reuters
Rousseff, who typically gives few interviews and approaches journalists with restraint, was animated in the aftermath of the Brazilian national team’s 4-0 rout of Panama in a pre-World Cup friendly on Tuesday.
She told journalists invited to her official residence for a dinner after the match that the Brazilians were looking like contenders to win their sixth World Cup.
Then she immediately rushed to find a bit of wood to touch.
“I’m very superstitious about football, like all Brazilians,” she said.
She confessed to wearing lucky charms to help the national team and vowed to keep her fingers crossed throughout the tournament.
If Brazil’s team wins it all, Rousseff vowed to take to the streets to celebrate, adding that she preferred to watch matches like any ordinary Brazilian, with beer, barbecue and friends.
Rousseff, 66, rarely speaks publicly about her past as a member of a leftist guerrilla group during Brazil’s military dictatorship, or her imprisonment and torture by the regime.
However, the subject of soccer evoked memories of the 1970 World Cup, when Rousseff said she supported Brazil’s championship-winning team even though she was a political prisoner at the time.
The team belongs to the nation, she said, not the government.
Appearing at ease over dinner, the divorced mother of one spoke enthusiastically of wandering the streets of New York and Rome unrecognized.
“I can only do that overseas,” she said.
Rousseff also spoke with relish of “the great feeling of freedom” she gets from riding a motorcycle and related the story of the time a friend offered to take her for a spin in August last year.
“Let’s get out of here,” she recalled saying, dodging her security detail, slipping out of the presidential palace and riding unrecognized through the streets of Brasilia on the back of his Harley.
Rousseff also spoke of her love of books, saying she routinely stayed up late at night to read on her Kindle.
“I can’t sleep without reading,” she said.
Her chief of staff, Aloizio Mercadante, said the president reads in French, English and Spanish, as well as her native Portuguese.
She listed her favorite authors as Belgium’s Georges Simenon, Cuban Leonardo Padura and Argentine Miguel Bonasso — who, like her, was persecuted by his country’s military regime.
Rousseff also loves films of all genres — though her passion at the moment is the HBO television series Game of Thrones, she told journalists, naming her favorite actor as Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lanister on the show.
Showing her serious side, the president also defended her government’s investment in infrastructure, social programs and education against critics who say too much has been spent on World Cup stadiums.
Displaying a commanding grasp of even the smallest technical details, she repeatedly corrected the ministers at her side.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
When 42-1 underdog James ‘Buster’ Douglas shocked ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson 34 years ago at the Tokyo Dome, the result reverberated worldwide. Spectators at the 45,000-plus seater venue witnessed one of boxing’s biggest upsets as unbeaten heavyweight champion Tyson was knocked out in the 10th round by the unheralded Douglas in February 1990. Boxing returns to the famous venue on Monday for the first time since that unforgettable encounter when Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue puts his belts on the line against Mexican Luis Nery. The 31-year-old Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is a huge star in Japan and is just
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to