Nayara Ribeiro

Nayara Ribeiro

Personal information
Full name	Nayara Ledoux Ribeiro
Nationality	Brazil
Born	(1984-06-27) June 27, 1984 Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil
Height	1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
Weight	49 kg (108 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Medal record Women's swimming Competitor for  Brazil Pan American Games 1999 Winnipeg 4×200 m freestyle South American Games 2006 Buenos Aires 4×200 m freestyle

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

Early years

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

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

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

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