Marta Vieira da Silva comes from an extremely poor family. "We didn't have enough money even to buy a football," Marta remembers. "If my mum had done that we would have gone without food."

Luckily an older cousin recognised Marta's great skill. When she was 14 he got a friend to arrange a trial for her with a women's team in Rio de JaneiroA seaside city in Brazil with a population of 6.7 million. and helped pay for her bus fare. 

At the trial she scored with her first touch. She hit the ball so hard that it knocked the goalkeeper over backwards.

The club signed her, and she was soon promoted to the senior team. By 16 she was playing for Brazil.

Marta then moved to Europe, where she helped the Swedish side Umea IK win the UEFA Women's Cup, and in 2006 she was named World Player of the Year - a title she would hold for five seasons running.

Marta is Brazil's all-time top goal scorer, with a tally of 118 from 183 games. She has scored the most goals of any player, male or female, in the World Cup (17) and was the first to score a goal in five different World Cups.

She has won two Olympic silver medals - and now has one more chance to win a gold. Last week Brazil's manager named her in his women's squad for Paris, calling her "the greatest athlete of all time".

Does she have a lesson for us all?

Yes! To come from a family that could not afford a football and rise to the top of the sport is an extraordinary achievement and shows what can be accomplished with determination.

No! Determination can only take you so far. Marta would not have succeeded if she had not been born with a really exceptional talent.

Rio de Janeiro - A seaside city in Brazil with a population of 6.7 million.