Brazil national under-23 football team previously won three silver medals (1984, 1988 and 2012) and two bronze medals (1996, 2008). The Brazilian Olympic team is often coached by the in-charge senior team coach, such as Mário Zagallo in 1996, Vanderlei Luxemburgo in 2000, Dunga in 2008 and Mano Menezes in 2012. Brazil's first participation in the Olympics was in Helsinki, Finland, in 1952. In that year, Brazil reached the quarter-finals, when they were eliminated by West Germany 4–2. In 1960, in Rome, Italy, in 1964 in Tokyo, Japan, in 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico, and in 1972 in Berlin, West Germany, Brazil was eliminated in
Brazil at the 2004 Summer Olympics not surpass its previous records set in Atlanta (15 medals) and Sydney (12 medals), Brazil produced a record of 5 golds at these edition, a performance only surpassed 12 years later in Rio de Janeiro, when Brazil was the host country and won 7 gold medals. Three of these medals in Athens were awarded to the team in beach and indoor volleyball, and two each in judo and sailing. Brazil's team-based athletes proved particularly successful in Athens, as the men's indoor volleyball team (led by Gilberto Godoy Filho) and the women's football team (led by Formiga) won gold and silver