Odair Santos (born 17 May 1981) is a visually impaired

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

from Brazil competing mainly in T11 classification middle and long-distance events. A veteran of four Paralympics, Santos has won nine Paralympic medals, including five silver medals. Santos is also a four time IPC World champion at the 1,500 metres event, being unbeaten from 2006 to 2015.

Athletics career

Santos first represented Brazil at a Paralympic Games when he competed in 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 ...

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 ...

, Greece. There he won a silver medal in the men's 5000 metres – T12 event, a silver medal in the men's 1500 metres – T13 event, a bronze medal in the men's 800 metres – T12 event and finished fourth in the men's 4 × 100 metre relay – T11–13 event. He also competed at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

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 ...

, China. There he won a bronze medal in the men's 800 metres – T12 event, a bronze medal in the men's 5000 metres – T13 event and a bronze medal in the men's 10,000 metres – T12 event. At the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

he won silver in the Men's 1500 metres – T11 event. In the buildup to the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in Rio, Santos attended the

2015 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para ...

in Doha. There he took gold in the 1500m – T11, but the events of the 5000m – T11 final saw Santos dramatically lose a commanding lead on the last lap. In the closing stages of the race with Santos clear of the rest of the field he fell to the floor with exhaustion, on returning to his feet he was overtaken by Chile's

Cristian Valenzuela Cristian Exequiel Valenzuela Guzmán (born 28 April 1983) is a visually impaired Paralympian with congenital glaucoma Primary juvenile glaucoma is glaucoma that develops due to ocular hypertension and is evident either at birth o ...

. Despite the support of his guide, Santos collapsed a second time, and was passed by Jason Dunkerley of Canada. Santos rose again only to collapse meters from the line to lose the bronze medal place to Japan's

Shinya Wada is a visually impaired Japanese long-distance runner. Competing in the T11 classification, Shinya has represented his country at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where he took the bronze medal in the men's 5000m T11 race. He is also a mul ...

. He holds the 800 m world record for T11 (totally blind) athletes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Odair Paralympic athletes for Brazil Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Brazil Paralympic bronze medalists for Brazil Living people 1981 births World record holders in para-athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Brazilian male middle-distance runners Brazilian male long-distance runners Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2007 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games 20th-century Brazilian people 21st-century Brazilian people