Ana Camila Donatella Pirelli Cubas (born 30 January 1989) is a Paraguayan track and field athlete who competes in the

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

. She is the Paraguayan record holder in the event with a personal best score of 5733 points. Pirelli holds more than a dozen national records in events as varied as the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and the indoor women's pentathlon. Pirelli was the heptathlon silver medallist at the

2013 South American Championships in Athletics The 48th South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Parque de Atletismo Campo Elías Gutiérrez in Cartagena, Colombia, between July 5-7, 2013. A total of 44 events were contested, 22 by men and 22 by women. Detailed reports ...

. She won the gold medal at the

2013 Bolivarian Games The 2013 Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos''), officially the XVII Bolivarian Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from November 16–30, 2013, in Trujillo, Peru, Trujillo, Peru, with some events held in ...

and the

2014 South American Games The 2014 South American Games was a multi-sport event that took place in Santiago, Chile. It was the 10th edition of the ODESUR South American Games. Santiago hosted this event for the second time, the first being in 1986. Most of the events took ...

, breaking games records at both competitions. Pirelli is tied to

Paraguay Marathon Club Paraguay Marathon Club (initialed PMC) is a track and field athletics club based in the city of Asunción in Paraguay. The club is affiliated with the Federación Paraguaya de Atletismo. The current president of the Paraguay Marathon Club is My ...

and competes in Paraguay's national competitions under the

Federación Paraguaya de Atletismo The Paraguayan Athletics Federation (FPA; ''Federación Paraguaya de Atletismo'') is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Paraguay. It is located at the Secretaria Nacional de Deportes in Asunción, where it hosts its annual nation ...

. Pirelli has committed to using her platform as a sportswoman to speak out about the impact of climate change as an EcoAthlete Champion, saying that growing up surrounded by wildlife has made her eager to protect it. In November 2023, she was named one of the BBC 100 Women 2023 for her sporting achievements and climate activism.

Career

Early life and career

She was born to Juan Carlos Pirelli and Magdalena Cubas in Asunción and raised in Ayolas. Pirelli had an upbringing full of sports – her father was a basketball player while her mother was a former national universities champion in the

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

. She frequented the local sports club, ''Club Social y Deportivo Yacyretá'', with her brother in her youth. She took part in basketball,

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and tennis. At age ten she became the national champion in figure skating in her age category. She then turned her attention to swimming and represented her country at an international event in Chile in 2005, setting a national junior record in the 50 metres freestyle swimming event.Ana Pirelli Cubas, la superatleta nacional con varios récord
''La Nación'' (2013-07-25). Retrieved on 2014-03-24.
''ABC'' (2008-08-10). Retrieved on 2014-03-24. An interest in athletics followed: she took part in the

2005 South American Junior Championships in Athletics The 36th South American Junior Championships in Athletics were held at the Estadio Municipal Jorge Newbery in Rosario, Argentina from October 1–2, 2005. Participation (unofficial) Detailed result lists can be found on the Atletismo Rosario ...

, although she was last in both the throwing events (

and javelin throw) in which she competed. In 2006, she ran a Paraguayan national record of 25.51 seconds for the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

and won the gold medal in the

at the

2006 South American Youth Championships in Athletics The 18th South American Youth Championships in Athletics were held in Caracas, Venezuela from October 14–15, 2006. The event was relocated from the Estadio Pueblo Nuevo in San Cristóbal, Táchira, Venezuela, because the renovation of the ...

. Pirelli participated in the

and the

4×400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

at the

2007 South American Junior Championships in Athletics The 37th South American Junior Championships in Athletics (Campeonatos Sudamericanos de Atletismo de Juveniles) were held at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo in São Paulo, Brazil from June 30-July 1, 2007. The Champions for men's 10,000m, bo ...

, but finished last in both races. The heptathlon continued to bring her greater success, as she managed fourth place at the

2007 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships The 14th Pan American Junior Athletics Championships were held in São Paulo, Brazil at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo on July 6 to July 8, 2007. A detailed report on the results was given. Participation (unofficial) Detailed result list ...

– an event won by future world championships medalist

Brianne Theisen Brianne Theisen-Eaton (born 18 December 1988) is a Canadian retired track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon and women's pentathlon. She won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Theisen-Eaton holds the Canadian record fo ...

First senior competitions

Pirelli entered her first senior international event the year after, recording a personal best score of 4940 points to take 12th place at the

2008 Pan American Combined Events Championships The 2008 Pan American Combined Events Championships were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at the Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez on May 31 – June 1, 2008. A detailed report on the event and an appraisal of the results was given. ...

. She began to study sports science at university in Asunción and gained a scholarship to continue her studies at

Oral Roberts University Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a private evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1963, the university is named after its founder, evangelist Oral Roberts. Sitting on a campus, ORU offers over 70 undergraduate degree programs ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, United States. Her most prominent outing in 2009 was at the

South American Championships South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

, where she ranked fifth in the heptathlon. A national record in the heptathlon came 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 ...

/ South American U23 Championships, where she was the bronze medallist with a score of 5118 points. She performed at two major events in 2011: a score of 5115 points brought her fourth at the

2011 South American Championships in Athletics The 2011 South American Championships in Athletics were the 47th edition of the South American Championships, organised under the supervision of the CONSUDATLE. They were held at the National Center of High Performance Athletics (''Centro Naciona ...

and a new national record of 5157 points placed her ninth at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

.Camila Pirelli
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-03-24. She set school records when competing for the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in collegiate competition in 2012: a score of 3765 for the indoor pentathlon preceded a win at The Summit League championship outdoors in a record score of 5254 points in the heptathlon. In addition to this, she set a javelin throw record of at the NCAA preliminaries. She improved her national record further in international competition that year as she managed 5479 points for fifth place at the

2012 Ibero-American Championships The 2012 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (''Spanish: XV Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') was the fifteenth edition of the international athletics competition between Ibero-American nations. It was held at the Polideportivo Máx ...

– her mark of in the shot put was also an outright national record. Pirelli graduated from Oral Roberts University with a degree in biology in 2012 and was the highest academic performer among the school's

student athlete A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s that year.

Multiple record holder

The 2013 season saw Pirelli establish herself among the best ever female athletes from Paraguay. Over the course of the year, she broke the national records in the 200 m (24.64 seconds),

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

(56.94 seconds), indoor 800 metres (2:20.44 minutes),

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

(8.79 seconds),

(13.70 seconds), indoor long jump (5.67 m), the indoor pentathlon (4032 points) and the heptathlon (5733 points). At the start of the year her pentathlon performance topped the rankings at the Austrian indoor championships and her score ranked ahead of the former South American record held by Themys Zambrzycki, which had been broken by

Vanessa Spinola Vanessa may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Vanessa (Millais painting), ''Vanessa'' (Millais painting), an 1868 painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais * ''Vanessa'', a 1933 novel by Hugh Walpole * ''Vanessa'', a 1952 instrument ...

earlier that month. She gave four heptathlon performances outdoors that year. She set a new best of 5617 points at the Brazilian

combined events Combined track and field events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each event, which adds to a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined events ...

cup in April, then improved to 5683 points to take second place at the

2013 Pan American Combined Events Cup The 2013 Pan American Combined Events Cup was held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, at the Terry Fox Stadium on June 1–2, 2013. The event was held jointly with the Athletics Ontario Senior Combined Events Championships and the Québec Canada Game ...

behind Cuba's

Yorgelis Rodríguez Yorgelis Rodríguez García (born 25 January 1995) is a Cuban track and field athlete specialising in the heptathlon. She represented her country at the 2013 World Championships finishing twelfth overall. Earlier she won several medals at the W ...

. She was runner-up to Brazil's Tamara de Souza at the

– being one of two medallists for Paraguay alongside

Víctor Fatecha Víctor Abel Fatecha Riveros (born 10 March 1988 in Concepción) is a Paraguayan athlete specializing in the javelin throw. He competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing without reaching the final. Fatecha is tied to Paraguay Marathon Clu ...

. Her best performance of the year came at the

, where she set a Games record and national record of 5733 points to secure the gold medal. In her first heptathlon of 2014 she again won a regional gold medal, this time at the

. Her result of 5669 points was a Games record and she became the first ever Paraguayan woman to win an athletics title at the competition. This included a national record of 13.66 seconds for the 100 m hurdles.

Personal bests

;Outdoor *

– 24.39 sec (wind: -0.1 m/s) –

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 ...

, 23 April 2016 * 800 metres – 2:13.65 min – Rio de Janeiro, 16 May 2016 *

– 13.40 sec (wind: +1.7 m/s) –

, 23 April 2016 *

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

– 1.68 m –

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, 1 June 2013 * Long jump – 5.69 m (wind: -0.8 m/s) – Cartagena, 6 July 2013 *

Shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

– 14.36 m – Santiago, 3 April 2013 * Javelin throw – 48.75 m – Austin, Texas, 24 May 2012 *

Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

– 5879 pts –

, 23–24 April 2016 ;Indoor *800 metres – 2:20.44 min – Linz, 17 February 2013 *

– 8.79 sec – Linz, 17 February 2013 *High jump – 1.63 m – Linz, 17 February 2013 *Long jump – 5.67 m – Linz, 17 February 2013 *Shot put – 13.70 m –

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

, 27 January 2012 *

Pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

– 4032 pts – Linz, 17 February 2013 ;Non-combined events *200 metres indoor – 27.09 sec – Joplin, Missouri, 6 February 2009 *

outdoor – 56.70 sec – Asunción, 29 April 2017 ''All personal best information from Tilastopaja and IAAF''Ana Camila Pirelli
IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-03-24.

Achievements

Awards

In November 2023, Pirellli was named to the BBC's 100 Women list.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pirelli, Ana Camila Living people 1989 births Paraguayan heptathletes Paraguayan people of Italian descent Sportspeople from Asunción People from Misiones Department Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Paraguay World Athletics Championships athletes for Paraguay Paraguayan female athletes South American Games gold medalists for Paraguay South American Games bronze medalists for Paraguay South American Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 2014 South American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 South American Games Ibero-American Championships in Athletics winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Paraguay South American Games competitors for Paraguay Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 South American Games Bolivarian Games gold medalists for Paraguay Bolivarian Games medalists in athletics