When Alabama National Guard Pfc. Elioenai Campos enters the coliseum in July, it will be the culmination of 26 years’ worth of literal blood, sweat and tears.
Campos, an infantryman assigned to the 1-167th Infantry Battalion, will represent the United States in jiu-jitsu at the 2022 World Games July 15 in Birmingham. The World Games is an international multi-discipline competition similar to (and organized in coordination with) the Olympics held every four years to recognize the best athletes in more than 30 unique sports.
“It’s incredible,” Campos said. “It feels like everything in my life and everything I have been doing has happened for this moment right now.”
Campos is a native of Manaus, Brazil, where he grew up too poor to afford more than two meals a day. At 10 years old, he said, he started working to help earn money for his family – and to buy his first jiu-jitsu gi.
To escape their poverty, his father encouraged him to “not just leave the city, but leave the country.” Campos saw Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) as his ticket to do so.
After more than a decade of training, he earned the opportunity to compete for the 2011 South American BJJ Championship. Due to a lack of money and sponsorship, Campos slept on the floor of an Argentinian police station the night before the tournament, but he still managed to claim the gold the next day.
“When I won, I finally felt like it is worth it to give everything – every little bit that you’ve got – for something bigger,” he said.
Winning the continent’s top prize, he said, gave him the athletic credentials he needed to get a visa approved and fund his move to the United States.
Since then, he has opened his own dojo in Columbiana and joined the Alabama National Guard to give back to the country he worked his entire life to get to.
Col. Mike Davenport, Alabama National Guard director of military support, met Campos through their shared passion for the BJJ sport.
“He’s a higher belt than me, so I’ve always seen him in competitions and watched him roll,” Davenport said. “I’ve always been impressed with him. Whatever he does, he does 100% and with his whole heart. And not just 100% physical effort. He puts everything into it.”
That’s why, Davenport added, he was eager to help Campos through the enlistment process and why Campos’ graduation from U.S. Army Basic Combat Training in 2021 was a “huge win.”
“Knowing his story, I was willing to go to bat for him,” he said. “He’s dedicated to doing what needs to be done, he has the tenacity to go after what needs to be gone after, and he has a genuine heartfelt love and desire to do the best he can do for his country.
“You can’t buy that kind of patriotism,” Davenport said.
To prepare for The World Games, Campos has traveled the state, country and even back to Brazil for intensive training with masters of the sport.
But at home, he said, his life has been acutely regimented in order to be in top shape.
Campos trains at three different gyms four times a day, five days a week, along with a different training program on Saturdays and a rest day on Sundays. His diet and supplement intake are also regulated to keep him strong, energized and at his registered competition weight, all while staying under the strict anti-doping policies enforced by the International World Games Association and Olympic Committee.
It’s the kind of dedication others called him crazy for when he was younger, but he said it would only be crazy if he quit.
“You can’t give up on things until you give the last of yourself,” he said. “If you’re still sweating, it means there’s still more in you to give. Until you dry up completely, you need to keep working and working.”
After so much training and a life of preparation, Campos said he’s ready to win it all at The World Games.
“Thinking about all my work and my journey and all my support,” he said, “it can’t go wrong. I’m just gonna go get something that’s mine. I just have to go get it.”
Davenport agreed.
“I think he’s gonna win it,” he said.
“He’s got the skill, he’s got the physical ability, and if it comes down to desire and drive,” Davenport paused, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head, “you ain’t gonna beat him.”
As the walls of Campos’s dojo – lined with dozens of medals – can attest, he’s won many tournaments before, but he says there’s one big difference this time.
“This time,” Campos said, “I’m not fighting for myself, I’m not fighting for a team… I’m not fighting for the city.
“I will have a U.S. flag on my back, fighting for this nation.”
The World Games 2022 jiu-jitsu matches are scheduled for July 15-16 starting at 9 a.m. both days at Birmingham Southern College’s Bill Battle Coliseum and can be viewed in-person through ticket purchases at www.twg2022.com or streamed live online at www.olympics.com. Campos is scheduled to fight in the men’s 85kg weight class.
The Alabama National Guard will also be represented at The World Games through a joint flyover by the 117th Air Refueling Wing and 187th Fighter Wing Red Tails during the opening ceremony July 7 at 8 p.m.
(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)
