Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago (born 2 August 1985), also known as Carol Santiago, is a Brazilian

Paralympic swimmer Para swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Para swimmers compete at the Summer Paralympic Games and at other sports competitions throughout the world. The sport is governed by the International Paral ...

who competes in international level events. She competed at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

and won five medals, including three gold medals.

Life

Santiago has a congenital eye condition called morning glory syndrome which is a defect in her optic nerve, she is partially sighted in her left eye but doesn't have peripheral vision in her right eye. She began swimming aged four and took part in able-bodied swimming competitions and open water swimming aged twelve. By the age of seventeen, she was completely blind for eight months due to accumulation of water in her retina and stopped swimming. She went back to swimming a decade later aged 27 and started to swim competitively again and in 2019 at the Caixa Open, she broke the Brazilian national record in the 50m freestyle that was set by Fabiana Sugimori at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

in Athens. During the

, she was the gold medalist in the Swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle S13, 50 m freestyle S13, the Swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle S12, 100 m freestyle S12 and the Swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Women's 100 metre breaststroke SB12, 100 m breaststroke S12, becoming the first Brazilian female swimmer to win three gold medals in the same edition of the Games.

Achievements

References

External links

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Carol Santiago
at the ''Brazilian Paralympic Committee, Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes Santiago, Maria Carolina 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Recife Swimmers from São Paulo Paralympic swimmers for Brazil Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Swimmers at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Brazil Paralympic bronze medalists for Brazil Paralympic medalists in swimming Brazilian female freestyle swimmers Brazilian female backstroke swimmers Brazilian female breaststroke swimmers S12-classified para swimmers 21st-century Brazilian women