Nádia Cruz

Nádia Cruz
Personal information
Full name Nádia Vanda Sousa Eloy Cruz
National team  Angola
Born (1975-07-12) 12 July 1975
Luanda, Angola
Height 1.59 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight 50 kg (110 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Breaststroke

Nádia Vanda Sousa Eloy Cruz (born July 12, 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]

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, and at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, but finished outside the top 35 rankings.

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.[5] 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.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ "Nádia Cruz". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 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. ↑ "Swimming – Women's 100m Breaststroke Startlist (Heat 2)" (PDF). Sydney 2000. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 100m Breaststroke Heat 2" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 258. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  7. ↑ "Dolan breaks own world mark in 400 IM". Canoe.ca. 17 September 2000. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
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