His nickname might mean “Little Gabriel,” but even though he is just 1.21m tall, Gabriel dos Santos Araujo is a giant of Paralympic swimming.
“My name is Gabrielzinho and I’m going for three gold medals at the Paris Paralympics,” the smiling 22-year-old Brazilian said, before receiving a kiss on the forehead from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at an official ceremony last month in Brasilia.
Gabrielzinho’s objective at the Paralympics, which opens on Wednesday, is to upgrade from the two golds and one silver he won at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Photo: AFP
When he is not doing laps in the pool at Juiz de Fora, Brazil, Gabrielzinho is nurturing his popularity on Instagram, where he has more than 50,000 followers. As he has no hands or arms, he navigates his phone screen with his toes and uses this same technique to manipulate the joystick on his video game console — his other great passion.
To eat, he bends over to grab the food with his mouth, and then after meals he wedges an electric toothbrush between his toes to clean his teeth.
“I can’t count the number of obstacles I have to overcome every day, but it makes me stronger,” he said.
Photo: AFP
His coach Fabio Pereira Antunes said he is a marvel.
“The first thing that impressed me was his dexterity outside the pool. He has great motor coordination and is very intelligent, which enables him to overcome all these obstacles on a daily basis,” Antunes said. “Once I saw him in the water, I discovered all his potential. He has a champion’s mentality and knows how to handle pressure.”
Gabrielzinho has phocomelia, a condition that arrests the development of a baby’s limbs during pregnancy.
The Brazilian has shoulder stumps and his legs are atrophied, but he can walk on both feet.
“I found out in the fifth month of pregnancy. Obviously, it was a shock,” said his mother, Ineida Magda dos Santos, a retired teacher.
“I started reading up on the subject to be ready to take the best possible care of him,” she said.
“Because we wanted him to have a normal childhood, we took him to a club where there was a swimming pool. By the age of four or five, he could already swim, even though he had no arms. I think it was a gift from God,” she said.
To swim, Gabrielzinho undulates in the water like a dolphin, using pelvic movements. A technique developed during long training sessions six times a week, from Monday to Saturday.
In and out of the pool, he performs strength-building exercises, particularly for his lumbar, abdominal and pelvic floor muscles. Gabrielzinho discovered competition at the age of 13, in 2015, at a school tournament.
“A teacher entered him without consulting me, and he won five medals. Since then, he hasn’t stopped,” his mother said.
At 19, he competed at the Tokyo Games, just after learning of the death of his grandfather, nicknamed “Pratinha” (Little Silver), to whom he was very close.
“I was training, I was already in the final phase, and this huge blow came,” Gabrielzinho said.
As if written in the sky, he began his medal haul in Tokyo with a silver in the 100m backstroke S2 — one of the categories for the most severely handicapped swimmers.
“I took it to mean that he was just watching me from the most special place, next to my grandmother, too,” Gabrielzinho said.
He then reached the top of the podium twice, in the 50m backstroke and 200m freestyle S2. Each time, he celebrated with a trademark dance.
The swimmer’s goal in Paris is to defend his two Paralympic titles, “turn his silver medal in the 100m backstroke into gold” and “dance a lot.”
And he would be hoping to exhibit a new celebratory dance to his fans this summer as Gabrielzinho shared that he has come up with a new routine which he is keeping top secret, for the moment.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS