ronaldo was born on the 22nd of september of 1976 in bento ribeiro

Ronaldo was born on the 22nd of September of 1976 in Bento Ribeiro, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro.
He is named after Doctor Ronaldo Valente, who assisted his mother, Sonia dos Santos Barata,
during her third delivery. His father, Nelio Nazario da Lima, worked for a teleph9one company
"Telerj". Ronaldo's full name is Ronaldo Luiz Nazario da Lima. There was evidence of his
physical coordination from the start as soon as he learned to walk, play and even dance. Ronaldo
didn't start speaking until he was almost three years old, by which time he had became fascinated
watching his father play soccer with his friends. From the very beginning school was a bit
nuisance for him. He preferred being outdoors, playing barefoot and dreaming the dream. He
wanted to become like his idol, Zico.
<Tab/>In 1988, Ronaldo joined his first club team, Tennis Club Valqueire, where he played
indoor soccer. He played with a size 2 ball on a basketball court. The ball had very little bounce
which meant the ball was always on the ground. This game was designed to encourage foot control
and is credited with being the reason why Brazilian players are so skillful. Ronaldo started his first
game with this club team on the bench, where they selected him as cover for the goalkeeper.
Eventually he played as a forward, where he like it because he loved to score.
<Tab/>When Ronaldo was 13 he still played indoor soccer with the Social Ramos and
regular outdoor soccer with Sao Cristovao. He became the leading scorer in both tournaments and
had to choose which path he wanted to follow. He decided to focus on outdoor only. He was good
and he was getting noticed. His mother preferred him to study, but he preferred to play soccer.
Finally he got his big break and signed for a fee. Reinaldo Pitta, Alexandre Martina and the coach
of the Brazilian under 17 team bought him for $7,500. Ronaldo then asked for the Nike shoes he
had always dreamed of, and became the leading player in the South American junior tournament
in Colombia that year. Following this big success, Reinaldo pitta and Alexandre martins got him a
better deal, $50,000 and moved him to Cruzeiro di Belo Horizonte, a reasonably big soccer club
in Minas Gerais, in the center of Brazil. By this time Ronaldo was far away from home and missed
his parents very much. In December of 1993, he was just 17 years old and his big dream came true
when they asked him to join the national team, the green and gold Selecao. He used part of his pay
check to buy a Volkswagen Golf even though he couldn't drive and helped his mother move out of
Bento Ribeiro so she would be closer to him.
<Tab/>When Ronaldo started playing with Selecao, he was 17 years old, the same age as
when Pele started playing too. Another coincidence that links the two players is that they both

played their first game for Brazil against Argentina. During the most important match in South
America, Ronaldo, the boy from Benito Ribeiro plays for the last 10 minutes replacing another big
start Bebeto. At this time Ronaldo still dreamed in becoming the new Zico. They included him in
the USA '94 world cup squad. When Parreira, the coach, revealed the final list of the 22 players,
which included Ronaldo in the list, it pleased all of the Brazilians that believed in his talent.
<Tab/>After the '94 USA World Cup many teams in South America wanted Ronaldo to play
for them. Ronaldo had many options, but at this point it wasn't a matter of what team he like the
most but who payed the most. Ronaldo finally made his mind and choose to play for a Italian team
the Inter, a very well known team around the world. Since the very first day, Inter falls in love
with Ronaldo. 10,000 people waited for him at the team headquarters, and another 10,000 are at
the Pineina (the training center), where Ronaldo was training for the first time. Ronaldo had
always used number 9, but he had a new shirt number which was number 10, the reason being that
number 9 was being used by Zamorano who wasn't very keen on giving it up. But numbers on
your back don't count very much when you have good numbers on the field. 50,000 people went
to watch Ronaldo the first time he played with Inter, even though he didn't get much playing time.
<Tab/>One evening, during a game against Piacenza, Ronaldo scored 3 times. His fans than
gave him his nickname "Phenomeno". He was a showman either on TV or when he was driving
his car which he made big progress. Ronaldo had bought a red Ferrari. The number of prizes he
received were phenomenal too. He even got to play in a FIFA friendly match, where he won
"Golden Shoe" as the best scorer in all European championships of the year, then the "Golden
Ball" by the French magazine "France Football", and the "FIFA World Player" of the year. After
all this award Ronaldo started his personal website, which he celebrated with a live show. When
Ronaldo was playing, his website became as busy as players in the field, some newspapers
reported peaks of six million people trying to get on line.
<Tab/>The show had once again started. Cheers from the audience. Ronaldo started playing
after Mutu got substituted. Ronaldo started running, he was in the midfield, everything was gong
well in his soccer career as well as in his life. Ronaldo was a very dangerous when he was given
the space and the opportunity of scoring. The Inter were playing the Lazio when Ronaldo had a
good chance of scoring and the crowd were was cheering go Ronaldo go, all of a sudden Fernando
Couto from the Lazio kicks him from behind and the goalkeeper worries. The there was a moment

of silence, and then a shout. The audience followed all of this live, there was pain and tears falling
from Ronaldo's eyes and there was no way to stop them. Millions of people watched as Ronaldo
was begin taken off the field and out of the stadium. His childish smile wasn't there anymore. He
was a grown man, who, crying, asked himself: "Why Him?"<Tab/>
<Tab/>Ronaldo's knee was broken. There was no possibility of it healing just by resting. Or
with help of physiotherapy. The big drama was clear. Ronaldo flew from Rome to Milan, and then
to Paris. There at the hospital, people were waiting for him, even if it was to see him for simple
curiosity. Ronaldo was walking with crutches and didn't know when he would be able to play
again. It was time for a very dangerous and serious operation. The total rehabilitation would
probably take about one year.
<Tab/>Ronaldo was out of the operation and the world was waiting to see how it had turned
out. The doctor came out and said it had been a total success. Even though Ronaldo wasn't able to
play people were sending him e-mails, faxes, card and even presents from his fans and supporters.
As Ronaldo watched his Colleagues on television he saw the were wearing t-shirts with his smiling
face printed on, and with three simple but moving words: "non mollare" ("don't give up").
<Tab/>It was a while until Ronaldo was able to play again. After all his knee problems he
went back and played like nothing had ever happened to him. At first you could see that he was
kind of scared but after a couple of games ans goals the Phenomeno was back in action. To this
day Ronaldo is still the best player playing. He helped the Brazilian National team win there 5th
world cup in 2002.