Rugby sevens star Raquel Kochhann held the Brazilian flag high at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics and etched her name in the country and games’ history. Kochhann holding her country’s flag after winning the battle against breast cancer is an inspirational tale for everyone across the globe. It wasn’t an easy journey for Kochhann to make it to Paris, but she didn’t give up and became one of the only two members of the side to play in a third Olympic edition. She had noticed a lump on her breast during the Tokyo Olympics, which was later diagnosed to be breast cancer.
The Rugby sevens star made her debut for Brazil in 2014 and represented her country in Rio 2016 when the sevens made its Olympic debut.
It was in 2022 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and the thing which made things worse for her was her mother’s medical history, as she was diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 50.
Kochhann was a high-risk individual due to her mother’s past medical history and it was not an easy battle with the cancer for her.
Kochhann battled breast cancer and knee injury and then worked hard on her recovery in the follow-up treatment to give another shot at her third Olympics. She was sidelined for more than 18 months after sustaining a knee injury and then underwent the cancer treatment and made a return to the Brazilian team in January at the World Sevens Series event in Perth.
Her doctor was not convinced whether she would be ready for the Paris 2024, but she was in no mood to give up on her dream.
“He always supported me, but he was apprehensive and careful,” the 31-year-old Brazilian tells The Associated Press earlier this year.
“To this day, his heart is in his mouth whenever I take some kind of hit.”
It was the first time in Olympic history that an opening ceremony occurred outside the main stadium. A mammoth crowd witnessed the mega event live from Paris with 300,000 people watching in person from specially built stands on the bank of the river and another 200,000 from overlooking balconies and apartments.
