Oliveira Returning to Competition at 40 Years Old
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – For the second time in three years, Valdiron de Oliveira has had a change of heart.
However, Oliveira insists his latest comeback was one that he had always hoped on making after he initially announced his retirement following the 2018 PBR World Finals.
Oliveira revealed this week that a serious gastrointestinal infection led to him walking away from the sport for a second time in 2018.
“I had an infection in my large intestine,” Oliveira said. “This is why I stopped. A doctor in Brazil told me to stop for six or seven months. I could do nothing. It was a very bad, bad, bad infection. This was my problem. Nobody really knew about my infection. Just me. I retired, and I only told a few guys that asked.”
Oliveira has decided to unretire for the second time since first walking away from the sport in 2016, and the 40-year-old will make his season debut at the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour event in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday night.
Fans can watch Oliveira’s return live on RidePass beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
Oliveira finished in first place at an open bull riding Monday night at Cowtown Coliseum at the Fort Worth Stockyards.
“I have been preparing my mind,” Oliveira said. “My body will be OK. Everything is Ok. That is what I think, you have to work your mind. You have to be focused. This is the most important. I think about the moves I need to do. I know I am older. Everything is more slow, but I try to put it into my mind to say this is the same thing as 10 years ago.”
Following another yearlong hiatus, Oliveira has decided to return once again.
“I missed bull riding a little bit, but not a lot, because I knew I would be back,” Oliveira said.
Oliveira has reached the 8-second mark 429 times in his premier series career, which ranks fourth all time in PBR history. He has won 12 premier series events, and rode for 90 or more points 23 times.
The 11-time PBR World Finals qualifier concluded 2018 ranked 20th in the world standings following a blistering 12-for-18-start to the 2018 season.
Oliveira received five Unleash The Beast exemptions that season, while this year he is going to have to climb his way up the world rankings if he wants to ride again on the premier series.
The Brazilian has drawn Pure Gangster (8-5, all levels) for Round 1 at the Nutter Center.
“Well, the first event is very hard trying to come back to the Unleash The Beast, but I am ready this week,” Oliveira said. “I am going for the win, and trying to get back into the Top 20 soon.”
Oliveira has surpassed 50 qualified rides in his 11-year career five times, and he was a perennial world title contender from 2008-2012.
However, a herniated disc in his lower back forever altered his career.
In 2011, he finished second to World Champion Silvano Alves.
Oliveira was dominating the 2012 season before he injured his back and watched himself trickle down the standings, finishing fourth overall.
He underwent career-threatening back surgery in 2012 in Brazil, and returned to competition in 2013 following two months of rigorous rehabilitation with esteemed physical therapist Nivaldo Baldo.
He qualified for the World Finals four straight years, and then one final time in 2018, following the surgery.
Oliveira walked away from the sport in 2018 in part because of ongoing back pain. The long-time fan favorite says a year in retirement, though, helped heal some of the aches and pains that were hindering him.
The veteran has always struggled with retirement. In 2016, Oliveira sat sobbing in the locker room after riding Nailed for 86.5 points in the championship round of the 2016 PBR World Finals. It was apparent then that Oliveira believed he was retiring too soon.
In 2018, Oliveira did not retire with any fanfare. He simply went back to Brazil and did not reveal anything about his infection, just saying he needed to retire because of ongoing back pain.
So how long is he now back for?
Oliveira said he is not sure if he will only ride for the remainder of the 2020 season, or if he would come back for another run in 2021.
“Well, I don’t know,” Oliveira said. “I have to see how my body responds to me now.”
Oliveira kept the infection out of the public eye, and he has since said he was on antibiotics for months and had to receive a series of shots as well. It was a long recovery, and it took him until about last September to return to full health.
In January, his doctor gave him the OK to make a return to bull riding, and Oliveira began to make his plans on returning to the United States. He moved back to the U.S. last month, and he began to up his training.
According to Oliveira, he has ridden six of seven bulls and has been working out four hours a day, three times a week at Fit-N-Wise Rehabilitation & Performance Center in Decatur, Texas.
“I feel the same as ’18,” Oliveira said. “I feel good. I feel strong. I feel ready. I have been working out every day.”
It is unlikely that Oliveira can contend for a World Championship at 40 years old – he will turn 41 in July – but it may not be out of the realm of possibility for Oliveira to qualify for the PBR World Finals for the 12th time since making his inaugural appearance in Las Vegas in 2007.
Gary Richard was 40 years old when he qualified for the 2002 World Finals.
Oliveira believes he has to pursue the Finals just as if he was pursuing a gold buckle.
“It is still the same thing,” Oliveira said. “I want to try hard. I want to be the World Champ, no matter what.”
How fast does Oliveira realistically think he can make it back onto the Unleash The Beast?
No. 45 Dakota Louis is the last alternate for this weekend’s Gwinnett Invitational in Duluth, Georgia, with 48 world points. Oliveira could earn a maximum of 44 world points in Dayton.
“It will depend on the draw and stuff like that,” Oliveira said. “It depends. But I don’t think it will be too hard to make the Top 30. I have to try hard, let God can stand by me, and I can make it.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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