Ronaldo Nazario will forever be known as one of the greatest strikers to ever play football and an idol to millions around the world.
The heroism of ‘El Fenomeno’ in the 2002 World Cup is etched in history with the triumph of Brazil, although few remember that he also represented his country at the Olympics a few years earlier in America.
In 1996, then 19-year-old Ronaldo dominated a star-studded Brazilian team that attended games in Atlanta.
He had already been selected for the 1994 World Cup squad but was only 17 at the time and didn’t play a single minute with Brazil winning the tournament without his influence.
The Olympic tournament was restricted to players under the age of 23, with three exceptions allowed.
Rivaldo (24), Bebeto (32), Juninho (23), Roberto Carlos (23) and Dida (22) were also on their side.
They were determined to bring home Brazil’s first-ever Olympic gold medal for football, but would face fierce opposition.
Argentina took Diego Simeone (26), Roberto Ayala (23), Javier Zanetti (22) and Hernan Crespo (21) to the tournament.
Italy brought Alessandro Nesta (20), Fabio Cannavaro (22) and Gianluigi Buffon (18).
Spain signed Raul (19), Fernando Morientes (20) and Gaizka Mendieta (22).
And France had Robert Pires (22), Sylvain Wiltord (22) and Claude Makelele (23) in their squad.
Amid the tournament’s abundance of talent, Ronaldo was clearly the star name of the future.
However, he didn’t even perform under his real name.
At the start of his international career, Ronaldo was actually known as “Ronaldinho” (meaning little Ronaldo in Portuguese) and wore that name on his shirt.
Indeed, Ronaldo Rodrigues de Jesus, his older teammate during the 1994 World Cup, was also called Ronaldo and nicknamed “Ronaldao” (meaning great Ronaldo).
When the real Ronaldinho initially joined the Brazilian setup, he had to be known as ‘Ronaldinho Gaucho’ so as not to be confused with R9.
Eventually, El Fenomeno became the oldest Ronaldo and got his real name back, but at the 1996 Olympics, Ronaldo also went under “Ronaldinho” because another teammate, Ronaldo Guiaro, was two years older than him.
R9’s Brazil were drawn in a group with Japan, Hungary and Nigeria’s dark horses.
Remarkably, they lost their opener 1-0 to the Japanese, but Ronaldo came alive in the other two group matches.
El Fenomeno scored Brazil’s first goal of the tournament in their 3-1 win over Hungary. Juninho and Bebeto also found the net.
Then, in the final group match against Nigeria, Ronaldo led his team to a 1-0 win with a goal outside the box.
In their quarter-final against Ghana, the 19-year-old again took center stage and netted a brace in a 4-2 victory.
Then, due to the format of the tournament, Brazil again met Nigeria in the semi-finals.
The result seemed predetermined given the 1-0 victory that had played in Brazil’s favor six days before.
Flavio Conceicao put Brazil ahead in the first minute, but this time Nigeria fought back when Roberto Carlos scored an own goal.
Before half-time however, Conceicao scored again and Bebeto added a third to put Brazil ahead.
With 15 minutes remaining, they looked destined for the gold medal game.
However, Victor Ikpeba scored in the 78th minute to inspire a remarkable comeback and 19-year-old Nwankwo Kanu leveled the game in stoppage time.
Kanu then scored a golden goal at the start of extra time to knock Ronaldo’s favorites surprisingly out of the competition – 4-3 the final scoreline.
Nigeria, which also had Taribo West (22), Celestine Babayaro (17) and Jay-Jay Okocha (22) in its ranks, then beat Argentina 3-2 in the final and won a gold medal very unexpected.
Brazil was left in the bronze medal game.
Ronaldo found the net again in a 5-0 thrashing against Portugal to ensure he came away with a medal, albeit not the one he wanted.
Ronaldo recalled to InsideTheGames years later: “It was an amazing experience.
“Brazil played very well until the semi-finals where we were 3-1 against Nigeria with 10 minutes remaining.
“Unfortunately, the team fell asleep and managed to lose 4-3, and couldn’t achieve the gold medal dream…
“My bronze medal is important – all athletes dream of an Olympic medal and for this reason [mine] is at home in an important place.
“I think the Olympics are very important around the world for all athletes.
“Football is such a big passion in the world that the World Cup will always be the most sought-after trophy, but the Olympics are such a great opportunity for players under 23 to promote these talents on the world stage. “
Ronaldo scored five goals at the 1996 Olympics and lit up games with his youthful exuberance, though an impostor named ‘Ronaldinho’ claimed all the credit.