Nayara Ledoux Ribeiro (born June 27, 1984 in

Vitória da Conquista Vitória da Conquista is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in Bahia, Brazil, that has a population of approximately 341,000 people as of 2020, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Ge ...

) is a

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

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 ...

from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Early years

As a child, Nayara wanted to be a ballerina. But at eight years old, her fragile health, and a pharyngitis not healed, led her to the pools. The athlete only defined to have a professional swimmer career at age 14, when she broke a legendary record: at Juvenile South American Championships, in

Vitória, Espírito Santo Vitória (, ''Victory''), spelled Victória until the 1940s, is the capital of the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. It is located on a small island within a bay where a number of rivers meet the sea. It was founded in 1551. The city proper has ...

, she broke the South American record of the 400-metre freestyle, which lasted since 1988, with a time of 4:19.32. The owner of the previous record was

Patrícia Amorim Patrícia Filler Amorim (born February 13, 1969 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Jewish Brazilian former Olympic freestyle swimmer and former president of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. She is the first female president ever of the club, elected on Decembe ...

, who, at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

marked 4:19.64.

International career

At just 15 years old, participating at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, she won a bronze medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle. She also finished 6th in the 400-metre freestyle, and 7th in the 200 and 800-metre freestyle. On June 5, 2000, she broke the South American Record of the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:46.55. On November 16, 2000, she broke the short-course South American record of the same race, doing 8:33.69. This record was only broken by Kobrich on 2004, but still was a Brazilian record until 2010, when Poliana Okimoto broke the record. Participating in the

2001 World Aquatics Championships right The 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the swimming and synchronised swimming events, ...

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, Nayara, 17 years old, managed to get to the 1500-metre freestyle final, finishing in 8th place. She was the first Brazilian woman to qualify for a World Championship final, where she finished the race in 16:40.37. On July 27, during qualifying, she broke the Brazilian and South American records in the 1500-metre freestyle, with a time of 16:32.18. This South American record was not broken until 2013, when

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 ...

made a time of 16:26.90. At this competition, she also finished 13th in the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:43.85, South American record. At the

2002 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) The 6th FINA Short Course World Championships were held in Moscow, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with ...

, in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Nayara finished 14th in the 800-metre freestyle, and 20th in the 400-metre freestyle. On May 3, 2002, Nayara broke the South American record of the 1500-metre freestyle (in short course), with a time of 16:13.64. This was the Brazilian record until September 25, 2010, when

scored 16:09.04 time. At the

2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The ninth edition of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in 2002 in Yokohama International Swimming Pool in Yokohama, Japan, from August 24–29. One world record A world record is usually th ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, Nayara did a great tournament, finishing 4th in the 1500-metre freestyle, 5th in the 4×200-metre freestyle, and 6th in the 800-metre freestyle. In Yokohama, she broke the South American Record of the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:43.53, and also broke the 4×200-metre freestyle record, with a time of 8:15.80. She participated 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 ...

, in

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 she finished 26th in the 800-metre freestyle. Nayara was 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 she finished 5th in the 800-metre freestyle. 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 ...

, Nayara won the silver medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle. She also had won bronze in the 1500-metre freestyle, but was disqualified after the race, losing this medal. Nayara was 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 ...

, where she finished 10th in the 800-metre freestyle.

After professional swimming

On 2008 she was attending Law School at FTC (Faculty of Science and Technology). Her idol is Ayrton Senna. In December 2012, she married with Adriano de Souza Valente (a former breaststroke swimmer, now entrepreneur), in

Salvador, Bahia Salvador (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...

Personal bests

Nayara Ribeiro is the current holder, or former holder, of the following records: Long Course (50 meters): * Former South American record holder of the 400m freestyle: 4:19.32, time obtained on 1998 * Former South American record holder of the 800m freestyle: 8:43.53, time obtained on August 22, 2002 * Former South American record holder of the 1500m freestyle: 16:32.18, time obtained on July 27, 2001 * Former South American record holder of the 4x200m freestyle: 8:15.80, time obtained on August 28, 2002, along with

Monique Ferreira Monique Andrade Ferreira (born 29 June 1980 in Rio de Janeiro) is a freestyle swimmer from Brazil. A member of Santos. International career She represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and 2008 Summer Olymp ...

Mariana Brochado Mariana Nery Brochado (born 18 December 1984) is a Brazilian freestyle swimmer. She won the bronze medal in the women's 200-metre freestyle at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A member of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo ...

and Denise Oliveira Short course (25 meters): * Former South American record holder of the 800m freestyle: 8:33.69, time obtained on November 16, 2000 * Former South American record holder of the 1500m freestyle: 16:13.64, time obtained on May 3, 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ribeiro, Nayara 1984 births Living people Brazilian female freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 1999 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2003 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Brazil People from Vitória da Conquista Pan American Games medalists in swimming South American Games silver medalists for Brazil South American Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2006 South American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Bahia 20th-century Brazilian women 21st-century Brazilian women