Joaquim Vital

Joaquim Vital competed in the middleweight successfully in Portugal around the 1910 Portuguese Championships and was selected for the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, the country’s first appearance. Working as a commercial employee, he was also the team coach and physiotherapist. In the middleweight A tournament, a walkover brought him to round 3, where he was shouldered by future bronze medalist Alppo Asikainen. At home, he wrestled for Atheneu Commercial and also acted as the club’s coach.

Joaquim, together with his brother António was also known as a midfielder in soccer. He started playing for the club Cruza Negra and in 1908 joined Sporting Clube de Portugal. There, he occasionally played for the club’s first team but was usually the captain of Sporting’s second team. It was also reported that he won a 1500m race and later took part in motorists’ tours.