What you need to know
- An Apple Store employee has won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics.
- Douglas Matera works at the Apple VillageMall store in Rio.
- He won silver as part of Brazil's 4x100m mixed relay team this week.
An Apple store employee from the company's VillageMall store in Brazil has won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Douglas Matera (pictured second from left), competing under the S13 classification, took home silver as part of Brazil's mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team in the final on August 31. Early Tuesday, the team of Matera, Wendel Belarmino, Lucilene da Silva Sousa, and Carol Santiago finished in a time of 3 minutes 54 to take second place in the race:
Maria Carolina Santiago, Wendell Belarmino, Douglas Matera e Lucilene Sousa levaram a prata nos 4x100 metros livre - 49 pontos. Olha o sorriso dessa turma. #ParalimpicoEmTóquio #JogosParalimpicos #paralympics pic.twitter.com/4VmMJVTtlHMaria Carolina Santiago, Wendell Belarmino, Douglas Matera e Lucilene Sousa levaram a prata nos 4x100 metros livre - 49 pontos. Olha o sorriso dessa turma. #ParalimpicoEmTóquio #JogosParalimpicos #paralympics pic.twitter.com/4VmMJVTtlH— Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro (@cpboficial) August 31, 2021August 31, 2021
Apple's SVP of Retail + People Deirdre O'Brien took to Instagram to congratulate Matera, stating:
From your entire family here at Apple, a huge congratulations to Douglas Matera from Apple VillageMall in Brazil for taking home a silver medal in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It's not every day that we get to celebrate such an outstanding accomplishment. Way to make a splash!
The Apple VillageMall store is located in Rio De Janeiro. Matera, who has a degree in Civil Engineering, is 28 years old and competes in the S13, SB13, and SM13 categories as set out by the International Paralympic Committee. As his bio notes, Matera competed in able-bodied swimming until 2009 and then started in Para swimming in 2017, following in the footsteps of his brother Thomaz, who swam for Brazil at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Matera has a congenital visual impairment called retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary genetic disorder that leads to a gradual loss of sight. Matera has competed in other races at this year's games including the 100m butterfly, the men's 50m freestyle, and the men's 200m individual medley.
