Jiu-jitsu
Gastão Gracie from Rio de Janeiro, the grandson of George Gracie through his son Pedro married Cesarina Pessoa Vasconcellos, the daughter of a wealthy Ceará family, in 1901 and decided to settle in Belém do Pará. Gastão Gracie became a business partner of the American Circus in Belém. In 1916, the Italian Argentine Queirolo Brothers staged circus shows there and presented Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese judoka and prize fighter. In 1917, Carlos Gracie, the eldest son of Gastão Gracie, watched a demonstration by Maeda at the Da Paz Theatre and decided to learn judo. Maeda accepted to teach Carlos. In 1921, following his financial dire straits and his father Pedro's demise, Gastão Gracie returned to his native Rio with his family.
Carlos passed Maeda's teachings on to his brothers Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., and George. Hélio was too young and sick at that time to learn the art, and due to medical imposition was prohibited to take part in the training sessions. Despite that, Hélio learned from watching his brothers. He eventually overcame his health problems and is now considered by many as the founder of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Helio Gracie and Carlos Gracie are considered in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu community and within the Gracie family as the creators of the modern form of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. They did so by training and modifing japanese jiu-jitsu for superior leverage.
The most recent family champion is Roger Gracie, who holds the Confederação Brasileira de Jiu-Jitsu World Super Heavyweight and Pan-American Open Weight titles, and the ADCC heavyweight and openweight championships.
Read more about this topic: Gracie Family