[1] Together with her sister Natália Cunha e Silva, she became a member of the women's athletics team of Sporting Clube de Portugal in 1946.
[2][3] As a gymnast, she represented the Ginásio Clube Português [pt], and as a gymnast she became one of the first three Portuguese women ever to participate in the Olympic Games, attending the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, together with her sister and Maria Laura Amorim.
She was joined by Joseph Sammer, her trainer and boyfriend, a German man she would later marry.
[3] She was also a cycling champion, skater and practitioner of acrobatic jumps, so at that time she was the most popular Portuguese sportswoman.
In her extensive list of activities were also skiing, bullfighting on foot and on horseback, car racing and piloting airplanes.