Background
Helio Gracie was the youngest son to Gastao and Cesalina Gracie. They had eight children and three of them were girls. He was a physically weak child who would run up a flight of stairs and even have fainting spells that had no established cause. Funny enough he managed to convince his mother that he was not capable of schooling immediately after completing his second grade. As a matter of fact he no longer went back to school. Unfortunately his family started experiencing financial hardships .The children were therefore sent to live with their other relatives. Helio started to live with his aunt where he got a job as coxswain for a prominent local rowing team. He finally relocated to the team`s dorms. He had a great sense of humor and an immovable spirit which made him a man of the people. As the years advanced he went to live with his elder brother at Botafogo where he taught jiu-jitsu. Due to his former illness the doctor had advised him not to indulge in intense activities. In that case he had to spend a number of years watching his brother train. Amazingly he managed to train one of his brother`s student in his absence yet he had never been trained himself apart from watching the techniques. In fact the student was so happy that he requested Helio to be his trainer.
The only challenge he faced is inability to execute some of the techniques had learnt from his brother due to his weak physique. But he modified the very hard techniques in order to rhyme with his weak body. After a struggle with the techniques he managed to emerge a winner thus creating a Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He was quite confident of himself that at one time he challenged all the highly respected martial artists in Brazil.
Gracie`s family learnt jiu-jitsu from Mitsuyo Maenda who was participating in Vale- Tudo matches many years before the Gracie`s learnt jiu-jitsu. Maenda was a great friend to Gastao Gracie who was a prominentbusiness man who really supported Maenda. In return Maenda willingly offered to train the traditional Japanese Jiu-jitsu to Gastao eldest son known as Carlos Gracie who after few years of learning involved his brother Helio. Helio eager to learn and exercise the acquired skills indulged in the field of fight.
Helio was highly skilled in throwing a striker down to the ground in order to humble them. He was remarkable in strategies that enhanced live sparring. Helio was always enthusiastic about his fighting career until his demise in January 29th in the year 2009. He died a natural death in his sleep in Itaipava, the city of Petropolis Rio dea Janeiro. Even in his last minutes he still remembered to say that he created a flag from the sport`s dignity. He exercised his jiu-jitsu techniques until his last breath. Incredibly ten days before his death he was training on the mat. Just like his father he is one of the sport heroes that ever lived. He left such a legacy since his lineage is among the most powerful in jiu-jitsu and therefore regarded as one of the fathers of the Brazilian grappling art. One of his most favorite technique was Cross Choke and his weights division was approximately 65kg.
