A career rebuilt: Mariana Esteves’ road from Lisbon roots to Olympic Paris

Mariana De Carvalho Vidal Reis Esteves Teiga has never followed a straight line in judo. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games she stepped onto the tatami in the U57kg category representing Guinea, wearing the red, yellow and green of a country she says became her passport back to elite sport.

Some athletes chase medals; she first had to find her place again.

Her story starts in Europe, in Lisbon, where she began judo at five after her mother encouraged her to learn how to look after herself. She was initially drawn to classical dance, but judo quickly became the priority. With sport deeply rooted in her family, she tried several disciplines, yet the dojo at Salesianos de Lisboa became her real home. Under coaches Eduardo Garcia and Nuno António, she grew in a club culture she still describes as family, while also learning from figures around her such as former Spanish Olympian Beatriz Martín.

As a junior, Esteves looked like one of Portugal’s brightest prospects. She took bronze at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Abu Dhabi, a result that suggested a smooth climb. Instead, a shoulder subluxation in 2016 led to surgery and a difficult stretch that followed. Staying in U52kg for Olympic-qualification support pushed her into unhealthy weight cuts, turning training into suffering and draining the joy out of competing.

Moving up to U57kg finally brought relief, but the pandemic disrupted her attempt to reset. At one point, she no longer even saw herself as an athlete and focused on finishing her studies. The turning point came with her move to Sainte Geneviève des Bois in France, where a supportive environment helped her rediscover the pleasure of training and rebuild confidence step by step.

In 2022, feeling blocked in Portugal and frustrated by a lack of transparency and opportunity, she made a decisive switch to Guinea. After her last event for Portugal in March, she competed for Guinea at the African Championships in May. The change reshaped everything: African champion in 2023, 2024 and 2025, Olympic qualification for Paris, and in 2025 her first Grand Prix medal—bronze in Austria.

In 2026 she reached the final block at the Paris Grand Slam for the first time, finishing fifth after losing only to Sarah Léonie Cysique and Faïza Mokdar. For her, that night in a full Paris arena mattered as much as any podium.

Away from competition, Esteves built an equally demanding academic path: a Sports Sciences degree (2018), a master’s in teaching physical education (2022), and now preparation for a doctorate in Human Kinetics focused on Sociology and Sport Management. With Los Angeles 2028 in mind, she’s still chasing more—but her biggest win may be the way she kept moving through injury, doubt and reinvention without letting anyone else define her limits.

Source: JudoInside