Flávio Canto

Flávio Vianna de Ulhôa Canto (born 16 April 1975, in Oxford, England) is a Brazilian judoka who competed in Men's 81 kg Judo. He won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.^[1][2] He is the founder and president of the Instituto Reação, and also presenter of the TV shows Corujão do Esporte on TV Globo and Sensei on SporTV.

Flávio Canto

Personal information
Born	(1975-04-16) 16 April 1975 (age 50)
Occupation	Judoka
Website	flaviocanto.com
Sport
Country	Brazil
Sport	Judo
Weight class	–81 kg
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games	(2004)
World Champ.	5th (2010)
Pan American Champ.	(1997, 1999, 2003, ( 2004, 2006, 2010)
Medal record Men's judo Representing  Brazil Olympic Games 2004 Athens ‍–‍81 kg Pan American Games 2003 Santo Domingo ‍–‍81 kg 1999 Winnipeg ‍–‍81 kg 1995 Mara del Plata ‍–‍78 kg Pan American Championships 1997 Guadalajara ‍–‍78 kg 1999 Montevideo ‍–‍81 kg 2003 Salvador ‍–‍81 kg 2004 Isla Margarita ‍–‍81 kg 2006 Buenos Aires ‍–‍81 kg 2010 San Salvador ‍–‍81 kg 2009 Buenos Aires ‍–‍81 kg 1996 San Juan ‍–‍78 kg 1998 Santo Domingo ‍–‍81 kg 2002 Santo Domingo ‍–‍81 kg IJF Grand Slam 2010 Rio de Janeiro ‍–‍81 kg 2010 Moscow ‍–‍81 kg South American Games 2002 Rio de Janeiro ‍–‍81 kg
Profile at external databases
IJF	2074
JudoInside.com	676
Updated on 30 May 2023

Biography

Flavio Canto was born in Oxford, England, where his father had a doctorate in nuclear physics. At two years old he came to Brazil and started Judo at fourteen. Despite starting Judo at a relatively advanced age, he was still able to compete at the national level in only five years. He is also a 6th degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He married actress and presenter Fiorella Mattheis in 2013. They divorced in 2014.

Judo career

Flávio Canto was selected in national team for the first time in 1995 when he won the bronze medal at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata. In 1996 he got the 7th place at the Olympics in Atlanta and in 1999 was silver medalist in the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. He lost the qualifiers for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games to Tiago Camilo, won the gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games, and then defeated Camilo to fight in the 2004 Athens Olympics, where Canto got the Olympic bronze medal. In the 2007 Pan American Games, Canto wound up out of the podium after injuring his elbow in the semifinal.^[3][4] He was World Ranking Leader U81kg in 2010, and retired from competition in 2012.

Instituto Reação social project

In 2003 Flávio Canto created Instituto Reação, a non-governmental organization that promotes human development and social inclusion through sports and education, promoting judo from the sport initiation to a level of high performance. Instituto Reação works in low-income communities in Rio de Janeiro including Rocinha, Pequena Cruzada, Cidade de Deus and Tubiacanga. The Institute serves about 1,000 children and young people between 4 and 25 years old and has played a prominent role in competitions, including having helped train the current Olympic and world junior judo champion, Rafaela Lopes Silva.