RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (JTA) — A Jewish politician became the first woman to be elected president of Brazil’s most popular soccer team.
Patricia Amorim, a Rio de Janeiro City Council member since 2000, as well as an Olympic swimmer, was chosen Monday to head the Flamengo soccer club. The team, which has some 35 million supporters, won the Brazilian league championship on Sunday.
A Jewish activist, she was among some 1,000 demonstrators protesting in Rio against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brazil last month. In 2008, as a council member, Amorim granted the Rio de Janeiro municipality’s highest honor, the Pedro Ernesto medal, to the Rio de Janeiro State Jewish Federation.
Amorim, a mother of four, represented Brazil at the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea. She also won 15 medals in her appearances at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, including two golds. She accumulated hundreds of medals and records in official championships in South America.
