Nádia Cruz
Personal information
Full nameNádia Vanda Sousa Eloy Cruz
National teamAngola
Born (1975-07-12) 12 July 1975
Luanda, Angola
Height1.59 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight50 kg (110 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBreaststroke

Nádia Vanda Sousa Eloy Cruz (born 12 July 1975) is an Angolan former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events.[1] She represented Angola in all four editions of the Olympic Games since 1988, and later became the chairman of the Angolan Olympic Athletes Association (AAOA) in 2010.[2]

Career

Cruz made her first ever Angolan team, as a 13-year-old teen, at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[3] She failed to reach the top 16 final in the 100 m breaststroke, finishing in forty-second place at 1:24.46.[4]

Cruz also competed in the same stroke at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, this time she swam in a time of 1:21.50 and finished in forty-first place beating Elke Talma from the Seychelles and Nguyễn Thị Phương from Vietnam who was disqualified.[5]

Four years later at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, she competed in the 100 metres breaststroke which she swam in 1:16.62 and finished 43rd out of 46 swimmers,[6] she also swam in the 200 metres breaststroke and she finished 37th out of 40 starters.[7]

Twelve years after competing in her first Olympics, Cruz qualified for her fourth Angolan team in the women's 100 m breaststroke, as a 25-year-old, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Because of her remarkable record and legacy, she became the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.[3] She also received a ticket from FINA, under an Olympic Solidarity and Universality program, in an entry time of 1:14.00.[8] She challenged seven other swimmers in heat two, including Bolivia's 26-year-old Katerine Moreno, who also competed with her in their Olympic debut back in 1988. Coming from last at the initial turn, she held off a sprint challenge from Papua New Guinea's Xenia Peni on the final stretch to pick up a seventh seed in a time of 1:19.57. Cruz failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed thirty-eighth overall in the prelims.[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Nádia Cruz". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Nádia Cruz at African Olympic athletes meeting in Johannesburg". ANGOP. 16 March 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  3. 1 2 Sexton, Mike (16 March 2000). "Living the Olympic dream". ABC News Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Seoul 1988: Aquatics (Swimming) – Women's 100m Breaststroke Heat 1" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. p. 424. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "1992 100m breaststroke round 1". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  6. ↑ "1996 Olympics Women's 100m Breaststroke". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  7. ↑ "1996 Olympics Women's 200m Breaststroke Result". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  8. ↑ "Swimming – Women's 100m Breaststroke Startlist (Heat 2)" (PDF). Sydney 2000. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 100m Breaststroke Heat 2" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 258. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  10. ↑ "Dolan breaks own world mark in 400 IM". Canoe.ca. 17 September 2000. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
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