Laís Souza

Laís Souza
— Gymnast —
Full name	Laís da Silva Souza
Country represented	Brazil
Born	(1988-12-13) December 13, 1988 Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
Height	1.53 m
Weight	48 kg
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International
Club	Esporte Clube Pinheiros
Head coach(es)	Oleg Ostapenko
Choreographer	Nadija Ostapenko

Laís da Silva Souza (born in December 13, 1988) is a Brazilian gymnast who has competed since 2003. She helped the Brazilian team to qualify for two Olympic Games. Lais is a specialist on vault.^[1] In 2013 she took up the winter sport of freestyle skiing, managing to qualify in the aerials event for the 2014 Winter Olympics but was forced to withdraw after a shocking neck injury sustained in training whilst in the USA.^[2]

Gymnastics career

2003-2004

Her first important competition in Brazilian Team was in 2003 Pan American Games, where she placed 3rd in Team Competition, behind team USA and team Canada. In the same year, she also helped the Brazilian team to qualify an entire team for the 2004 Olympic Games, in 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Brazilian Team placed 8th overall.^[3] In her first Olympic Games, she helped Team Brazil to place 9th. She scored 9.387 on vault, 8.762 on bars, 9.375 on beam and 8.675 on floor.^[4]

2005-2008

In 2005 she competed in São Paulo World Cup. She scored 15.112, placing 2nd on vault. Cheng Fei was the gold medalist (15.6) and Elena Zamolodchikova was the bronze medalist (14.875). In 2006 she took part in 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She placed 4th on vault, scoring 14.987. Oksana Chusovitina was the bronze medalist (15.1), Alicia Sacramone was the silver medalist (15.325) and Cheng Fei was the gold medalist (15.712). She was also 7th in team competition and 8th on floor (14.75).^[5] In this year, she was considered the Sportswoman of the year in Brazil.^[6] In 2007, Laís won 3 medals in 2007 Panamerican Games. She placed second in the team final, behind Team USA. She was also third on vault (14.650) and bars (15.050).^[7] She also helped the Brazilian team to qualify an entire team for the second time in 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. In 2008 she placed 8th in the team final, in 2008 Olympic Games, the best team-result for Brazil so far. Her best individual result during that Olympics was the 26th on bars (14.775).

2011-2012

Souza returned to competition in 2011 after a three-year break during which she worked on injury recovery. After several knee surgeries, she resumed her training and was named to her third Olympic team in June 2012. Just weeks before the Games, Souza suffered an injury to her hand during a training session on bars and was forced to withdraw from competition. She was replaced by Ethiene Franco.^[8]

Skiing Career

2014

In 2014, it was announced that Souza would compete for Brazil as an aerial skier at the 2014 Olympic Games. While training in the United States on January 28, 2014, she suffered a neck injury. The Brazilian Olympic Committee has announced that she is unable to move her arms or legs following this accident and that she has sustained "severe trauma". ^[9][10] She is being treated at the University of Utah Medical Center Neurological Critical Unit by Dr. Holly Lenyard, a Clinical Assistant Professor in that department there, and will not be able to compete in the February 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. It is too soon to determine whether she will be paralyzed and without feeling permanently or not in her arms and legs, and if so, to what degree, because she must first undergo short and long term inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation efforts once her life is out of danger, a process that can take weeks, months, or even years. She is on a breathing machine; the tube has been moved from her mouth to her neck to make her more comfortable. Depending on her ultimate prognosis, she may need to use one for life. She cannot currently talk, but she is cooperating well with her health care team, and has the ability to nod when asked questions, a positive sign of awareness.^[11]

Results

2003

• Bronze Medal, team, 2003 Pan American Games. Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.
• 4th, vault, 2003 Pan American Games. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
• 8th, team, 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Anaheim, California.

2004

• 9th, team, 2004 Olympic Games. Athens, Greece.

2005

• Silver Medal, vault, World Cup. São Paulo, Brazil.

2006

• 7th, team, 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Aarhus, Denmark.
• 4th, vault, 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Aarhus, Denmark.
• 8th, floor, 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Aarhus, Denmark.

2007

• Silver Medal, team, 2007 Panamerican Games. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Bronze Medal, vault, 2007 Panamerican Games. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Bronze Medal, uneven bars, 2007 Panamerican Games. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• 5th, team, 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Stuttgart, Germany.

2008

• 8th, team, 2008 Olympic Games. Beijing, China.

References