Lars Schmidt Grael (born February 9, 1964 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

) is a Brazilian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and former professional

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

, having won two Olympic bronze medals (in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and 1996). His brother, Torben Grael, is also a sailor. Together they won the 1983 Snipe World Championship. Lars is also ten-time Brazilian and five-time South American champion for the Tornado class, in which he also won his medals, eight years apart, in the

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Summer Olympics, alongside Clinio Freitas and

Henrique Pellicano Henrique "Kiko" Pellicano (born February 28, 1974) is a Brazilian sailor. He won the bronze medal in the ''Tornado Class'' at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta along with Lars Grael. Pellicano hails from a family of sailors, with his si ...

, respectively. In September 1998, he suffered a serious accident in Vitória,

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...

, caused by the negligence of a boat driver that left the boat propeller uncovered, which amputated one of the athlete's legs. Grael then gradually began to take a role to promote the sport in politics.

External links

* 1964 births Sportspeople from São Paulo Brazilian amputees Brazilian people of Danish descent Brazilian people of Polish descent Brazilian male sailors (sport) Living people Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in sailing Olympic sailors of Brazil Sailors at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Tornado Sailors at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Tornado Sailors at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Tornado Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Tornado Snipe class world champions Star class sailors Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World champions in sailing for Brazil Star class world champions Lars Grael {{Brazil-Olympic-medalist-stub