The games are the brainchild of Marcos and Carlos Terena, two brothers belonging to the Terena tribe and working with Funai, Brazil’s government-sponsored National Indian Foundation. “We wanted a forum to bring indigenous groups together in a great display of sport and culture,” says Carlos. It’s an exercise in self-respect. “Many white people don’t believe we Indians have athletic ability,” he says. “But what about the Erikbatsa, who paddled five days in their dugout canoes to get here?” Carlos is a devout believer in what he calls “the indigenous way of sports”: “This is sport as a celebration, not just competition. Indigenous people respect the strong and the agile, but they don’t make a cult of their champions. Part of what we are saying is ‘Come celebrate with us’.”
It was some party. A soccer tournament was a central part of the Maraba games. (How could it not be, in football-mad Brazil?) The end of each match set off wild victory dances among athletes and fans. But the practitioners of traditional rain-forest sports weren’t feeling neglected. The week started badly for Laucidio Flores, 22, when he went for a swim in the Tocantins and was spiked by a venomous mandi fish. The painful injury didn’t keep the Kaiowa tribesman from winning the javelin throw, tossing a coconut-wood spear 39.7 meters. “I am really enjoying the games,” he said, basking in the afterglow. “The people really appreciate a champion.” It was only midweek, and he’d already landed dates with two enthusiastic fans.
