Poliana Okimoto

Poliana Okimoto Cintra, born on 8 March 1983 in Sao Paulo, is a Brazilian long-distance swimmer who became the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic swimming medal. She began her international career in the pool, finishing 18th in the 800 metre freestyle at the 2002 short-course world championships, and later specialised in open-water racing. She won Pan American Games silver medals in the women's 10 kilometres in 2007 and 2011, took the marathon swimming World Cup in 2009 by winning nine of eleven stages, and that year earned bronze at the World Aquatics Championships in Rome, the first medal for a Brazilian woman in the event's history. At the 2013 world championships in Barcelona she won the 10 kilometre title and a silver in the 5 kilometre race. At the Olympic Games she placed seventh in 2008, could not complete the 2012 race because of the water temperature, and in 2016 at home in Rio de Janeiro finished fourth until the disqualification of a rival moved her up to bronze.