Senna: what he really meant to Brazil | Nicole Froio | Independent Editor's choice Blogs

Senna: what he really meant to Brazil | Nicole Froio | Independent Editor's choice Blogs

One of my earliest memories is of my dad crying in front of the television, right after Ayrton Senna crashed in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. My understanding at the time was minimal as I was only four years old, but later I came to understand that Senna is one of the few Brazilian personalities who made the whole country proud.

Brazil was fresh out of a military dictatorship when Senna got a real chance to win the Formula 1 Championship in 1988. Democracy had only been established for three years and politicians were still trying to find their footing in the new system. The people had been under a repressive government for the last twenty years and misery and poverty were left behind to be dealt with by the new government.

Besides the turbulent economy and the inflation soaring high, the new government was failing to deal with social problems and was settling into a system of corruption we see in the Brazil of today. The people were unhappy and the country’s self-esteem was at an all-time low after the hopes that a democracy would bring better life to the people were completely crushed.

The idea that everything was better abroad quickly settled in. As one of the people showed in the documentary Senna said, most people preferred to hide that they were from Brazil – there was no pride in it.