Ana Marcela Jesus Soares da Cunha (born 23 March 1992) is a Brazilian

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who specializes in the

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. The beginning of the modern age of open water human swimming, swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when L ...

marathon. She is considered one of the best open water swimmers in history, having obtained 14 medals in FINA World Aquatics Championships (including seven gold medals as of 2022). She has also received FINA’s Female World Open Water Swimmer Of The Year award six times (2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019). Her countless achievements are comparable only to those of

Larisa Ilchenko Larisa Dmitriyevna Ilchenko (russian: Лариса Дмитриевна Ильченко; born 18 November 1988) is a Russian long-distance swimmer. She has won eight world titles and a gold at the 2008 Olympics. Biography Ilchenko has dominated ...

, another multi-medalist in World Championships. Cunha won the gold medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in the women's marathon 10 km.

Career

At only 14 years old, she collected two gold medals at the 5 km and 10 km marathon at the

2006 South American Games The VIII South American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Sudamericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos'') were a multi-sport event held from 9 to 19 November 2006 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with some events taking place in Mar del Plata (canoeing, ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. In 2005, she was able to reach second place in

Travessia dos Fortes ''Travessia'' (English title: ''The Path'') is a Brazilian telenovela created by Glória Perez. It is produced and broadcast by TV Globo, and aired from 10 October 2022 to 5 May 2023. The telenovela follows the story of Brisa (Lucy Alves), who see ...

(the most important competition of the aquatic marathon calendar in Brazil). Subsequently, became champion in 2006 and 2011. Cunha qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, after placing tenth at the

FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships The FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships, or more commonly "Open Water Worlds", was a bi-annual FINA championship for open water swimming held in even years from 2000 to 2010, inclusive. Race distances were 5, 10, and 25 kilometers (also kno ...

in Seville, Spain. She became the youngest-ever swimmer to participate in the inaugural women's 10 km open water marathon, against a field of twenty-four other competitors, including her teammate

Poliana Okimoto Poliana Okimoto (born March 8, 1983) is a Brazilian long-distance swimmer. Career She was at the 2002 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Moscow, where she finished 18th in the 800-metre freestyle. She won the Travessia dos Fortes in 20 ...

, South African amputee Natalie du Toit, British duo Keri-Anne Payne and

Cassandra Patten Cassandra Lily Patten (born 1 January 1987 at Cardinham, Cornwall, United Kingdom) is a British freestyle swimmer and coach who won the bronze in the 10 km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Early life Cassie had always loved the ...

, and sixteen-year-old American

Chloe Sutton Chloe Elizabeth Sutton Mackey (born February 3, 1992) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle and long-distance events. Sutton represented the United States at two consecutive Olympic Games. Sutton has won a total of f ...

. Cunha finished in a close race for fifth place, with a total time of 1:59:36.8, approximately one second ahead of Switzerland's

Swann Oberson Swann Oberson (born 26 July 1986, Geneva) is a Swiss open-water swimmer. In the 2008 Summer Olympics she finished sixth in the 10 km marathon swimming event. At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships she received gold in open water swimming � ...

, yet nine seconds behind winner

of Russia. Kazan 2015 - Ana Marcela Cunha

At the

2009 FINA World Championships The 2009 World Aquatics Championships ( it, Campionati mondiali di nuoto 2009) or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines ...

Rome, Italy , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg ...

, Cunha finished twenty-second in the 10 km marathon, with a time of 2:02:06.4. The following year, she reinforced her lead in the FINA 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit, by dominating all eight meets of the series. Because of her repeated successes, Cunha was selected as FINA's best female open water swimmer of the year. She won the gold medal at the 5 km marathon tied with

Andreina Pinto Andreina del Valle Pinto Pérez (born 10 September 1991) is an Olympic and National Record holding swimmer from Venezuela. She swam for Venezuela at the 2008 Olympics. She also swam at the: * 2007 World Championships *2007 Pan American Games ...

, at the

2010 South American Games The IX South American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Sudamericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos'') was a multi-sport event held between 19 and 30 March 2010 in Medellín, Colombia. The Games were organized by the South American Sports Organi ...

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

. She also got the silver medal in the 10 km marathon. At the 2011 FINA World Championships in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, Cunha won the gold medal in the women's 25 km marathon, with a time of 5:29:22.9. Despite of her first world championship success, Cunha nearly missed out of the final slot for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, as she placed eleventh in the 10 km marathon, with a slowest time of 2:02:22.2, four seconds behind Spain's Erika Villaécija García. Cunha also placed seventh in the 5 km marathon with a time of In 2012, Cunha decided to withdraw from the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier, held in Setubal, Portugal, to focus on her competitive career for the FINA 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit. She dominated the series by successfully defending her title for the second time, amassing a total of 160 points and four victories in eight different meets. At the

2013 FINA World Championships The 15th FINA World Aquatics Championships, FINA World Championships ( ca, Campionat Mundial de Natació de 2013, es, Campeonato Mundial de Natación de 2013) were held from 20 July to 4 August in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Cunha handed an entire medal haul for the Brazilians in the 5 km marathon, as she snatched the bronze in 56:44.4. Three days later, she won the silver medal in the 10 km marathon, with her teammate Poliana Okimoto winning the gold medal. Ending her participation, she was in the 25 km marathon, where she tried to defend her 2011 title, but finished in fifth place, 4 seconds of the race winner. At the 2015 FINA World Championships in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

, Cunha won a bronze medal in the 10 km marathon. Two days later, she won the silver medal in the Mixed 5km Team Event. On 1 August, she became two-time World Champion of the 25 km marathon. At 23, Ana Marcela Cunha became the Brazilian woman with more medals won at the World Championships of Olympic sports. Returning to the Olympic open water marathon in 2016, Cunha was deemed the race's favorite in previews, especially with the advantage of the Olympics being in her home country. However, she was unable to live up to the pressure of winning at home, finishing in tenth, while blaming the underperformance on missing the in-race nutrition. At the 2017 FINA World Championships in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Cunha won two bronze medals in the 5 km marathon and in the 10 km marathon. On 21 July, she became three-time World Champion of the 25 km marathon. She also participated at the Mixed 5km Team Event, along with

Viviane Jungblut Viviane Eichelberger Jungblut (born June 29, 1996, in Porto Alegre) is a Brazilian swimmer. International career At the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, she finished 5th in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay, 9th in the 400 metre freest ...

, Allan do Carmo and

Fernando Ponte Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, finishing 6th. In 2019, she won the gold medal in the women's marathon 10 kilometres at the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2019, links=no), officially the XVIII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games or Lima 2019 ( qu, Limaq 2019), were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Spo ...

held in Lima, Peru. She also claimed gold at the ANOC World Beach Games in the women's open water 5 km swim. At the

, in the Women's marathon 10 km, she won the gold medal. At the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

held in Budapest, Hungary, she won her second gold medal in a row in the Women's 5 km open water, with a time of 57:52.9. She also won bronze in the Women's 10 km. In the Women's 25 km event she became a five-time world champion this year, with four titles in a row.

Awards and honours

* FINA, Top 10 Moments:

(#7 for winning the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the 10 kilometre open water swim by 0.7 seconds)"Tokyo Olympics: Top 10 moments"
'' FINA''. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.

Personal life

Ana is a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

. Her father was a swimmer and her mother is a former gymnast, who always supported her.

References

External links

* * *
Profile – UOL Esporte

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunha, Ana Marcela 1992 births Living people Olympic swimmers for Brazil Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2011 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2019 Pan American Games Brazilian female long-distance swimmers Sportspeople from Salvador, Bahia World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games medalists in swimming South American Games gold medalists for Brazil South American Games silver medalists for Brazil South American Games bronze medalists for Brazil South American Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2006 South American Games Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Competitors at the 2014 South American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Brazil Olympic gold medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics LGBT swimmers Brazilian lesbians Brazilian LGBT sportspeople 21st-century Brazilian LGBT people Lesbian sportswomen 21st-century Brazilian women