Nelson Cruz (born 31 December 1977) is a

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

an athlete, specializing in

long-distance running Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

and half marathon. Born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

to Cape Verdean parents, Nelson grew up in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, having visited Cape Verde for the first time in August 2006, where he won the 10,000m run in the National Youth Convention. With double nationality (Portuguese and Cape Verdean), Nelson chose to compete for Cape Verde in international events. He is trained by Pedro Pessoa and competes for CDR Praia da Salema, having previously represented União Desportiva de Caxienses and Casal de Santo António sports club. Nelson holds the Cape Verdean national records in all the long run races. In 2005, he represented Cape Verde for the first time internationally, in the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...

. Later, he won the gold medal in the half marathon in the

2006 Lusophony Games The 1st Lusophone Games ( pt, 1.os Jogos da Lusofonia; ) were held in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China between 7 and 15 October 2006. The 2006 Games were the first edition of this multi-sport event for Port ...

. With such a track record, he was invited to be part of the Cape Verdean team in the

Beijing Olympics 2008 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 ...

, through one of two wildcards for athletics given to Cape Verde by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

. His personal best for marathon is 2:17:36. In 2016 Nelson became the Portuguese Nacional Champion in Cross Country, with a time of 30:43.

Competition record

*2005 Rotterdam Marathon: 2:19:14 *2006 Carlos Lopes Gold Marathon: 6th, 2:17:39 *2007 Carlos Lopes Gold Marathon: 5th, 2:22:43Lisbon 2008 Gold Marathon
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Competition record

See also

References

Further reading