Emanuel Eduardo Pimenta Vieira da Silva, GOIH (born 4 December 1985), is a Portuguese

sprint canoer Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race canoes or kayaks on calm water. Overview Race categories vary by the number of athletes in the boat, the length of the course, and whether the boat is a canoe or kayak. Canoe sprints are som ...

. He was born in Braga. A finalist at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

and medalist at the

2012 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 ...

, he is Portugal's most successful

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

sprinter since the 1980s. Despite training with very limited resources, Silva became outright Portuguese individual champion over three distances (500 m, 1000 m and 10,000 m) at the age of just sixteen. In 2003 he starred at the world junior championships in Komatsu, Japan, winning the K1 500 m gold medal and silver in the K1 1000 m. He then competed in his first senior world championships, in Gainesville, USA, placing a highly-creditable sixteenth in the K-1 1000 m. In 2004 he reached his first senior final, finishing in seventh place at the European championships in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

, Poland. Still only eighteen years old, and technically a junior, he was the second-youngest competitor in the blue riband K-1 1000 m event at the Athens Olympics and exceeded expectations by reaching the final. There he finished in seventh place in a time of 3:33.862. He followed up his Athens success by winning the 2005 European Under-23 Championship K1 1000 m final in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

, Bulgaria. Later in the season he won the first senior medal of his career, the K1 1000 m bronze at the European Championships in

, Poland. In 2006 he retained his European under-23 title at Schinias, Greece. In senior competition he achieved his best-ever world championship placing, seventh, at the World Championships in Szeged. Silva was not as successful at 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 ...

as he was eliminated in the semifinals of both the K-1 500 m and the K-1 1000 m event. At the London Olympic Games, he won the silver medal along with

Fernando Pimenta Fernando Ismael Fernandes Pimenta (, born 13 August 1989) is a Portuguese sprint canoeist who has won multiple medals at the Olympic Games, World and European championships. At club level, he represents Benfica. Career Pimenta has competed s ...

in the K-2 1000 m event. Since then he has also become world champion in the K-2 500 m in 2013 with João Ribeiro. Silva is now a member of the Clube Náutico de Prado,

Vila de Prado Vila de Prado is a Freguesia, Portuguese civil parish located in the Vila Verde, Vila Verde municipality that is located in the Braga District, Braga district. Its current president is Albano Bastos. The location used to be called Prado (Santa Mari ...

, Portugal.

Orders

PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Officer BAR

Grand Officer of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

References

External links