Nayara Ledoux Ribeiro (born June 27, 1984 in Vitória da Conquista) is a freestyle swimmer from Brazil.[1]

Nayara Ribeiro
Personal information
Full nameNayara Ledoux Ribeiro
Nationality Brazil
Born (1984-06-27) June 27, 1984 (age 39)
Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil
Height1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
Weight49 kg (108 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing  Brazil
Pan American Games
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Winnipeg 4×200 m freestyle
South American Games
Silver medal – second place 2006 Buenos Aires 4×200 m freestyle

Early years edit

As a child, Nayara wanted to be a ballerina. But at eight years old, her fragile health, and a pharyngitis not healed, led her to the pools. The athlete only defined to have a professional swimmer career at age 14, when she broke a legendary record: at Juvenile South American Championships, in Vitória, Espírito Santo, she broke the South American record of the 400-metre freestyle, which lasted since 1988, with a time of 4:19.32. The owner of the previous record was Patrícia Amorim, who, at the 1988 Summer Olympics marked 4:19.64.[2][3]

International career edit

At just 15 years old, participating at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, she won a bronze medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle.[4] She also finished 6th in the 400-metre freestyle, and 7th in the 200 and 800-metre freestyle.[5][6]

On June 5, 2000, she broke the South American Record of the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:46.55.[7] On November 16, 2000, she broke the short-course South American record of the same race, doing 8:33.69. This record was only broken by Kobrich on 2004,[8] but still was a Brazilian record until 2010, when Poliana Okimoto broke the record.[9]

Participating in the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Nayara, 17 years old, managed to get to the 1500-metre freestyle final, finishing in 8th place. She was the first Brazilian woman to qualify for a World Championship final, where she finished the race in 16:40.37. On July 27, during qualifying, she broke the Brazilian and South American records in the 1500-metre freestyle, with a time of 16:32.18.[10] This South American record was not broken until 2013, when Poliana Okimoto made a time of 16:26.90.[11] At this competition, she also finished 13th in the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:43.85, South American record.[12][13]

At the 2002 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), in Moscow, Nayara finished 14th in the 800-metre freestyle,[14] and 20th in the 400-metre freestyle.[15]

On May 3, 2002, Nayara broke the South American record of the 1500-metre freestyle (in short course), with a time of 16:13.64.[16] This was the Brazilian record until September 25, 2010, when Poliana Okimoto scored 16:09.04 time.[17]

At the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Nayara did a great tournament, finishing 4th in the 1500-metre freestyle, 5th in the 4×200-metre freestyle, and 6th in the 800-metre freestyle.[18] In Yokohama, she broke the South American Record of the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:43.53, and also broke the 4×200-metre freestyle record, with a time of 8:15.80.[19][20]

She participated at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships, in Barcelona, where she finished 26th in the 800-metre freestyle.[21]

Nayara was at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, where she finished 5th in the 800-metre freestyle.[22][23]

At the 2006 South American Games in Buenos Aires, Nayara won the silver medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle.[24] She also had won bronze in the 1500-metre freestyle, but was disqualified after the race, losing this medal.[25]

Nayara was at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she finished 10th in the 800-metre freestyle.[26]

After professional swimming edit

On 2008 she was attending Law School at FTC (Faculty of Science and Technology). Her idol is Ayrton Senna.[27]

In December 2012, she married with Adriano de Souza Valente (a former breaststroke swimmer, now entrepreneur), in Salvador, Bahia.[28]

Personal bests edit

Nayara Ribeiro is the current holder, or former holder, of the following records:[29]

Long Course (50 meters):

  • Former South American record holder of the 400m freestyle: 4:19.32, time obtained on 1998
  • Former South American record holder of the 800m freestyle: 8:43.53, time obtained on August 22, 2002
  • Former South American record holder of the 1500m freestyle: 16:32.18, time obtained on July 27, 2001
  • Former South American record holder of the 4x200m freestyle: 8:15.80, time obtained on August 28, 2002, along with Monique Ferreira, Mariana Brochado and Denise Oliveira

Short course (25 meters):

  • Former South American record holder of the 800m freestyle: 8:33.69, time obtained on November 16, 2000
  • Former South American record holder of the 1500m freestyle: 16:13.64, time obtained on May 3, 2002

References edit

  1. ^ "UOL profile". UOL (in Portuguese). 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  2. ^ "UOL profile". UOL (in Portuguese). 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  3. ^ "Brazilians learn to swim away". Folha de S.Paulo (in Portuguese). March 21, 1999. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  4. ^ "Brazil medals at 1999 Pan". UOL (in Portuguese). 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  5. ^ "Results of the 1999 Pan Am Games" (PDF). USA Swimming. 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  6. ^ 1999 Full results by Swimnews
  7. ^ "THE HISTORY OF THE RECORD OF 800 FREE FEMALE". Best Swimming (in Portuguese). March 9, 2008. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  8. ^ "ARGENTINA - CHILEAN EXCEEDS 800 FREE SOUTH AMERICAN RECORD". Best Swimming (in Portuguese). June 28, 2004. Retrieved April 25, 2013.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Rain of Records opens the Brazilian Short Course Championships". CBDA (in Portuguese). September 20, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  10. ^ "Nayara Ribeiro gets 8th place in the 1500-metre freestyle". UOL (in Portuguese). July 28, 2001. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  11. ^ "Poliana breaks a 12-year brazilian record". CBDA. August 12, 2013. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  12. ^ "Brazilian swimming goes without achieving any final in Fukuoka". Folha UOL (in Portuguese). July 25, 2001. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  13. ^ "THE HISTORY OF THE RECORD OF 800 FREE FEMALE". Best Swimming (in Portuguese). March 9, 2008. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  14. ^ "Results of the 800-metre freestyle at 2002 Moscow". OmegaTiming. April 4, 2002. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  15. ^ "Results of the 400-metre freestyle at 2002 Moscow". OmegaTiming. April 5, 2002. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  16. ^ "Nayara breaks the South American record". CBDA (in Portuguese). May 3, 2002. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  17. ^ "Back to short course, Poliana hits the Brazilian record of 1500-metre freestyle". Globoesporte (in Portuguese). September 25, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  18. ^ "Bruno Bonfim closes as the 12th athlete with index". CBDA (in Portuguese). August 29, 2002. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  19. ^ "THE HISTORY OF THE RECORD OF 800 FREE FEMALE". Best Swimming (in Portuguese). March 9, 2008. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  20. ^ "Nayara and relay break continental records". CBDA (in Portuguese). August 28, 2002. Archived from the original on April 22, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  21. ^ "Results of the 800-metre freestyle at 2003 Barcelona". OmegaTiming. July 25, 2003. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  22. ^ "Results of the 2003 Pan Am Games" (PDF). USA Swimming. 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  23. ^ "Results at 2003 Pan" (PDF). SwimNews. 2003. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  24. ^ "South American Games: More gold for swimming". Globoesporte (in Portuguese). November 19, 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  25. ^ "Brazilian swimmer is disqualified in South American Games". UOL (in Portuguese). November 18, 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  26. ^ "Brazilian off the podium in the 800-metre freestyle". Globoesporte (in Portuguese). July 20, 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  27. ^ "UOL profile". UOL (in Portuguese). 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  28. ^ "Happily ever after!". Globoesporte (in Portuguese). December 2, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  29. ^ "Women's Swimming Records". CBDA (in Portuguese). 2013. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2013.