In sports, every country has its heroes, its legends, and its myths. People that became the best of the best in their particular sport, managing to ascend to a god like position, and get praises from fans. We have many worldwide examples, like Pelé and Maradona in football, Roger Federer in tennis, Jonah Lomu in rugby or Michael Jordan in basketball.

In Portugal, there are many great athletes, that managed to achieve higher ground, and become legends, and get the people to see them as national symbols and heroes. And even on the international level, many have made great results, won important competitions, broke records, and with that, gathered recognition and reputation. We could write an entire book about the many great Portuguese athletes, that are popular and people love, but in this article, we chose the ones that made the country proud, marked or are marking an entire generation.

Eusebio

This football player was the Portugal’s best of his time. Born in 1942 in Mozambique (at the time a Portuguese colony), Eusébio arrived in Lisbon with just 18 years old, to join Benfica, and soon became the major reference of football in Portugal, being known as the King or the Black Panther. He broke record after record, both in the club and also in the national team, leaving a great legacy behind, that only now, 40 years later are being overthrown.

Cristiano Ronaldo

There was no way around to mention Cristiano Ronaldo, a football player still on active, the guy that broke the records left by Eusébio. A superstar in today’s sports, Cristiano Ronaldo was born in Madeira, and moved to Lisbon in his teenage years, to join the club Sporting Lisbon, where he did all of his formation, before moving to Manchester United. There, he started his ascension to glory, breaking club records both in Manchester United and Real Madrid and in Portugal’s national team, where he’s still chasing some records. At 32, and with four Golden Ball Award, he doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Joaquim Agostinho

An enormous cyclist, with a peculiar style, that surprisingly, only started to practice and compete with already 25 years old, he still managed to evolve in such a way, that he still made it as the best Portuguese cyclist of all time. He won three Portuguese Tour in a row, from 1970 to 1972, and had great results on the international level as well. One second place on the Tour of Spain, and on the great Tour of France, he got to third place twice, and one of those times he missed the victory, by only eleven seconds. Unfortunately, he died during a competition in 1984, when with only 300 meters until the finish line, a dog ran into the road, and he hit his head on the ground and the injury later, was fatal.

Carlos Lopes and Rosa Mota

These two great marathon runners are mentioned together because they were the first Portuguese man and woman to win a gold medal. Carlos Lopes won several competitions for his club, Sporting Lisbon, until he reached the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and won the first ever gold medal for Portugal, in a stunning marathon race.

Four years later, in Tokyo, Rosa Mota, became the first woman, and the second athlete to bring a gold medal to Portugal.Until this day, both are popular among Portuguese people for that and highly praised.