The devastated partner of the glamorous influencer who drowned during a Texas Ironman has paid tribute to “the best person” he has ever met — calling her the “last woman” he will ever love.
Rodrigo Ferrari affectionately called Brazilian athlete Mara Flávia his “Ursa” — Portuguese for “she bear” — in the note shared online two days after her death, saying his love for her “will be eternal.”
He said he “never imagined feeling so much pain and sadness over someone’s departure as I do now.”
“Ursa, you were the best person I have ever met in my life, by the way, you brought back my will to live, my joy and the twinkle in my eyes for everything that I loved and was erased, my health, my family, sport, my work with music and of course gave me a new family too!” he wrote Monday.
“Your light has shone on me and everyone around you and it will keep on shining from above. I hope one day everyone can feel real love like we did.
“It’s something so strong, I can’t explain, but it will keep beating inside me forever. Yes, my love for you will be eternal and you were my last woman in this life.”
He told his partner, 38, he would meet her in the “next season” as he referenced one of her final posts, where she told her legion of 60,000 followers to “enjoy this train ride, which is life.”
“As you said yourself: “Enjoy this bullet train ride that is life,” he wrote.
“And even with the speed of the machine, obscuring the landscape, look out the window, for at any moment the train will leave you at the eternal station.”
He shared a montage of loved-up pics of the couple, as well as snaps from when they were training.
Flávia vanished during an open-water swim in The Woodlands, a 200-acre man-made freshwater lake, Saturday morning – the first of three grueling trials that competitors face during the 140-mile race.
Fire crews were told about a “lost swimmer” at around 7:30 a.m., one hour into the pro-female swim, KPRC reported.
Volunteers on kayaks spotted an athlete go underwater while rescuers battled challenging visibility conditions before Flávia’s body was recovered just after 9:30 a.m.
Montgomery County Sheriffs confirmed that the victim “drowned while participating in the swim portion of the event,” according to a statement.
The office said its Major Crimes unit will continue the investigation “per normal protocols.”
Luis Taveira, a family friend, claimed she had been battling ill health before the race, but officials have not revealed her formal cause of death.
