Carol Santiago wins third gold medal in Paralympic swimming

Maria Carolina Santiago won another gold medal on French soil this Wednesday (04), at the Paralympic Games. This is the swimmer's third victory in this edition and her sixth in the Paralympics. The greatest Paralympic champion in Brazil's history competed in the final of the 100m freestyle S12, which is the modality for visually impaired swimmers.

In addition, the swimmer later won another medal, this time in silver, in the 4x100m freestyle relay 49 points, further increasing the number of medals on the table for Brazil, which to date has 57 and is in sixth place in the table.

^{Carol Santiago in the final of the 100m freestyle S12 at the 2024 Paralympic Games (Reproduction/Marcello Zambrana/CPB)}

Another gold for history

Carol was already the favorite to win the title and advanced to the final with the best performance in the qualifying rounds, with a time of 1min00s50. The swimmer was dominant throughout the event and left her opponents with no chance of overtaking her. With an impeccable performance in the event, the Brazilian won yet another historic gold medal for Brazilian swimming, with a time of 59s30.

Soon after, Ukrainian Anna Stetsenko hit the edge and secured the silver with 1min00s39. The bronze went to Ayano Tsujiuchi, from the Japanese Delegation, who finished the race with 1min01s05.

After the race was over, a very emotional gesture could be seen by all the viewers who followed the sport. Tsujiuchi hugged Carol to celebrate the result.

^{Hug between Carol Santiago and Japanese Ayano Tsujiuchi at the end of the race (Reproduction/Ana Patrícia Almeida/CPB)}

In addition to Wednesday's achievement, Carol had already won gold in the 100m backstroke S12, where she managed to break the Americas record in the event with a time of 1min08s23, and in the 50m freestyle S13 with 26s75. Still in the final of the 100m freestyle S12, Brazilian Lucilene Souza, who won silver in the 4x100m mixed freestyle relay 49 points at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, managed to finish the race in sixth place.

Other achievements of the day in swimming

In the 50m breaststroke SB3 final (people with significant physical disabilities), swimmer Patrícia Pereira won the silver medal after finishing the event in 58s31. The athlete had already won bronze in the 4x50m freestyle relay, 20 points. In addition to Patrícia, Lídia Cruz, winner of two bronze medals in Paris, one in the 150m medley SM4 and one in the 4x50m freestyle relay, 20 points, finished the same event, but in sixth place.

Mariana Gesteira, who had already won bronze in the 100m backstroke S9 (physical motor limitation) yesterday, won another medal of the same color in Paris, in the 100m backstroke and in the 100m freestyle S9.

For Brazilian swimming athletes, the day full of achievements ended with the quartet Matheus Rheine, Douglas Matera, Lucilene Sousa and Carol Santiago, who took the silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay with 49 points, with a time of 3min56s94, behind only Ukraine.

Featured photo: Carol Santiago on the podium of the 100m freestyle S12 with her third gold medal, at the Paris 2024 Paralympics (Reproduction/Marcello Zambrana/CPB).