Atalibio Magioni

In the late 1960s Atalibio Magioni moved to Rio de Janeiro to undertake his military service. Whilst in the city Magioni took up the sport of rowing, with him soon earning himself a place on the Brazilian national team. In 1971 he had the best result of his career when he won gold as part of the coxed pairs crew at the Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia. He continued to have national and international success over the next few years in the same event, including finishing seventh at the 1973 European Championships and tenth at the 1976 Montréal Olympics.

The Olympics left a lasting impression on Magioni, with him relocating to live in Canada to work as a coach and spending the next 20 years in the country. During this time he was selected as the rowing instructor to work with the actor Nicolas Cage on the 1986 film The Boy in Blue where Cage portrayed the great Canadian sculler Ned Hanlan. Magioni eventually returned to live in Brazil where he worked as cattle farmer.