Kaio Márcio de Almeida (born 19 October 1984) is a Brazilian swimmer who specializes in the

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. He is also known by the reduced versions of his name: ''Kaio Márcio'', ''Kaio Márcio de Almeida'', ''Kaio Almeida'', or ''Kaio de Almeida''. Almeida was nine years old when he began swimming in Esporte Clube Cabo Branco in João Pessoa. He suffered from

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

attacks and began swimming for medical reasons, and under the influence of his father, José Márcio. At the time, Almeida was nicknamed "Gordo" (fat), a nickname he lost at age 15 when he lost weight and began to train and compete regularly. As of February 2015, he competes for the swimming team of

Minas Tênis Clube Minas Tênis Clube (short, just ''Minas'') is a social, recreational and sports club from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. By 2013, it has more than 73,000 members. Its patrimony comprises two urban units, the Minas I and Minas II, and two country units, ...

International career

2003

At the age of 18, Almeida competed in the 200-meter butterfly semifinal at the

2003 World Aquatics Championships The 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 12–27, 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. The championships featured competition in all 5 of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Synchronised swimming, Water Polo, and Open Water Swimming. C ...

Barcelona 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 ...

, where he ranked 13th. He also swam the 100-meter butterfly, ranking 22nd. In the 100-meter butterfly, he broke the Brazilian record with a time of 53.98 seconds. In the 200-meter butterfly, he broke a 20-year South American record set by

Ricardo Prado Ricardo Prado (born 3 January 1965 in Andradina, São Paulo, Brazil) is an Olympic and former World Record holding medley swimmer from Brazil. He was one of the greatest swimmers in the history of Brazil and the best Brazilian swimmer in the ...

in 1983. Almeida's time was 1:58.83 and the record was 1:59.00. In August, Almeida competed at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

, where he won silver medals in the 200-meter butterfly and 4×100-meter medley, and a bronze in the 100-meter butterfly. He broke his Brazilian records in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 53.44 seconds, and in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:58.10, both getting the Olympic index. In the 4×100-meter medley, he broke the South American record with a time of 3:40.02.

2004

In June 2004, participating in the second stage of the Circuit

Mare Nostrum ''Mare Nostrum'' (; Latin: "Our Sea") was a Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea. In Classical Latin, it would have been pronounced , and in Ecclesiastical Latin, it is pronounced . In the decades following the 1861 unification of ...

in Canet, France, Almeida broke the long-course South American record in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:57.38, which was set by the Venezuelan Rafael Vidal since 1984 (1:57.51). Almeida participated in

2004 Summer 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), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where he finished 17th in the 100-meter butterfly, 19th in 200-meter butterfly and 15th in 4×100-meter medley.Kaio's athlete page
with results, on the 2008 Olympics website. Retrieved 2008-10-22. On 10 September 2004, Almeida broke the South American record in the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 23.33 seconds. The previous record of 23.41 seconds was set in 2001 by

Nicholas Santos Nicholas Araújo Dias dos Santos (born 14 February 1980) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle and butterfly sprint events. He swims for Esporte Clube Pinheiros. He swam the 50-metre freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olymp ...

,. Almeida competed at the

2004 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) The 7th FINA Short Course World Championships were held at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States from October 7 through October 11, 2004. Results Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly Medley Medal table ...

held in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

in October. He finished fourth in the 4×100-meter medley, breaking the South American record with a time of 3:33.02, along with

César Cielo César Augusto Cielo Filho (, born 10 January 1987) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint events. He is the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history, having obtained three Olympic medals, winning six individual World ...

Guilherme Guido Guilherme Augusto Guido (born 12 February 1987) is a Brazilian backstroke swimmer who specializes in sprint events. He was twice a finalist in the 100 metre backstroke at World Championships When Guido was young, he was a big rival of César Ci ...

and

Eduardo Fischer Eduardo Aquiles Fischer (born March 25, 1980 in Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil) is an Olympic breaststroke swimmer from Brazil. He swam for Brazil at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Early years Eduardo began swimming at the age of seven, bu ...

. He also finished fourth in the 50-meter butterflyonly three hundredths of a second away from winning a bronze medal, and seven hundredths of a second away from winning a silver medal. Almeida broke the South American record in the semifinals with a time of 23.22 seconds, and in the final with a time of 23.29 seconds. His semifinal time was the same as that of the silver medalist Mark Foster. Almeida finished fifth in the 100-meter butterflyonly 12 hundredths of a second away from winning a bronze medal. In this event, he broke the South American record twice with times of 52.18 seconds in the heats and 51.80 seconds in the final.

2005

Almeida competed in the

2005 World Aquatics Championships The 2005 World Aquatics Championships (french: Championnats du monde de natation 2005) or the XI FINA World Championships were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from July 16 to July 31, 2005. They took place in Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen's I ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, where he was a finalist in the 100-meter butterfly, finishing in seventh place. He also ranked 14th in the 200-meter butterfly and 17th in the 50-meter butterfly. In 2005, he twice broke the South American record in the 50-meter butterfly with times of 23.17 seconds on 9 September and 22.92 seconds on 21 November. In 17 December, he established a new world record in the short-course 50-meter butterfly with a time of 22.60 seconds. The former world record holder was

Ian Crocker Ian Lowell Crocker (born August 31, 1982) is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. During his career, he set world records in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly (long course and short ...

of the US, with a time of 22.71 seconds in October 2004. Almeida's record was beaten in 2008 by Australian

Matt Jaukovic Matija "Matt" Jaukovic (born 17 November 1985) is an Australian and former Montenegrin competitive swimmer. He is a former world record-holder in the short course 50 metre butterfly. Over the course of his career he has also held Commonwealt ...

, who improved the record to 22.50 seconds. On December, Almeida also broke the short-course South American record in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 50.62 seconds and in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:53.27. He finished among the top three in the world rankings of the butterfly races, became the world record holder in the 50-meter, and finished second in the 100-meter and third in the 200-meter.

2006

Almeida won the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly in the

2006 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) The 8th FINA World Swimming Championships ( 25 m) swam April 5–9, 2006 at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities o ...

held 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 ...

. It was his biggest title. In the same competition, he also won a bronze medal in the 50-meter butterfly and finished 10th in the 200-meter butterfly. Almeida swam at the

2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The tenth edition of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in 2006 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, from August 17–20. Six world records A world record is usually the best global and most ...

, where he finished eighth in the 100-meter butterfly and in the 200-meter butterfly.

2007

At the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Almeida won gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 52.05 secondsa Pan American Games record and the 200-meter butterfly in 1:55.45 secondsa Pan record and South American recordand a silver in the 4×100-meter medley in 3:35.81 secondsa South American record.

2008

In 2008, Almeida reached the final of the 200-meter butterfly in 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 ...

, finishing in seventh place. He finished 15th in the 100-meter butterfly and 14th in the 4×100-meter medley.

2009

On 8 May 2009, at

Maria Lenk Aquatic Center The Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre ( pt, Parque Aquático Maria Lenk) is an aquatics centre that is part of the City of Sports Complex in the Barra da Tijuca district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is part of the investments made by the city to host t ...

, Almeida swam the 200-meter butterfly in 1:53.92 seconds; the fifth-fastest time in the race's history and a South American record. The day before, he broke the South American record for the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 51.64 seconds, but he did not swam the final, in which

Gabriel Mangabeira Gabriel Semain Vasconcellos Mangabeira (born 31 January 1982) is a Brazilian competition swimmer who qualified for the men's 100-metre butterfly at both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Mangabeira also won a silver medal ...

set a new record of 51.21 seconds. At the

2009 World Aquatics 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 , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Almeida finished in fourth place in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:54.27. He ranked 20th in the 50-meter butterfly and 29th in the 100-meter butterfly. In the Stockholm stage of the FINA World Cup in November 2009, Almeida broke his South American record in the heats of the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:51.46 seconds. At the finals, he set a world record in the short-course 200-meter butterfly in 1:49.11 seconds. Almeida's record was beaten in 2013 by South African

Chad le Clos Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos, OIS (born 12 April 1992) is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion. He is the African record, Commonwealth record, and South African record holder in the short ...

, who improved the record to 1:49.04. A day later, he won another gold, beating the South American record for the 100-meter butterfly twice with times of 50.34 seconds in the heats and 49.44 seconds in the final.

2010

Almeida competed at the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

, where he finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly and 11th in the 100-meter butterfly. At the

2010 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) The 10th FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 15–19 December 2010. This swimming-only championships took place in the Dubai Sports Complex; all events were swum in a 25-meter ( short-course) ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, Almeida won bronze in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 50.33 seconds. In the 200-meter butterfly, he won silver with a time of 1:51.56 seconds. Along with teammates César Cielo,

Felipe França Felipe is the Spanish variant of the name Philip, which derives from the Greek adjective ''Philippos'' "friend of horses". Felipe is also widely used in Portuguese-speaking Brazil alongside Filipe, the form commonly used in Portugal. Noteworthy ...

and Guilherme Guido, Almeida broke the South American record for the 4×100-meter medley with a time of 3:23.12 seconds, winning the bronze medal.

2011

In the

2011 World Aquatics Championships The 14th FINA World Championships () were held on 16–31 July 2011 in Shanghai, China at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. The 2011 World Championships featured five aquatics disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, open water, and synchro ...

held in

, Almeida finished 10th in the 200-meter butterfly, 25th in the 100-meter butterfly and 14th in the 4×100-meter medley. In 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, ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, Almeida won the gold in the 4×100-meter medley and bronze in the 200-meter butterfly.

2012

At 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 ...

, Almeida finished 15th in the 4×100-meter medley, 17th in the 200-meter butterfly, and 28th in the 100-meter butterfly. At the

2012 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) The 11th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) was held in Istanbul, Turkey on 12–16 December 2012. This swimming-only championships took place in the Sinan Erdem Dome; all events were swum in a 25-meter ( short-course) pool. The United St ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, he finished fourth in the 4 × 100 meter medley, 11th in the 50-meter butterfly and 18th in the 100-meter butterfly.

Retirement and return

Kaio Almeida retired from swimming and tried to turn a politician, but returned to the pools.

2015

At the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, Almeida won a gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay, by participating at heats. He also finished 5th in the 200 metre butterfly.

2016

At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, he competed in the Men's 200-metre butterfly, going to the semifinals, finishing in 14th place.

2018

At the 2018 South American Swimming Championships in

Trujillo, Peru Trujillo (; qu, Truhillu) is a city in coastal northwestern Peru and the capital of the Department of La Libertad. It is the third most populous city and center of the List of metropolitan areas of Peru, third most populous metropolitan area of P ...

, he won a silver medal in the 200 metre butterfly.

Records

Kaio de Almeida is the current holder of the following records: Almeida is a former holder of the following records:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida, Kaio De 1984 births Living people Brazilian male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers of Brazil Swimmers at the 2003 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2007 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2011 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics World record setters in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Swimmers at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil Pan American Games bronze medalists for Brazil Pan American Games medalists in swimming Brazilian male butterfly swimmers Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Paraíba

International career

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Retirement and return

2015

2016

2018

Records

See also

References

External links