Flávia Saraiva

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Flávia Saraiva Apparatus gymnastics
Flávia Saraiva 2016b.jpg

Flávia Saraiva at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Personal information
Surname: Flávia Lopes Saraiva
Nationality: BrazilBrazil Brazil
discipline Apparatus gymnastics
Society: Flamengo
Trainer: Alexandre Carvalho
Birthday: September 30, 1999
Place of birth: Rio de Janeiro , Brazil
Size: 145 cm
Weight: 31 kg
Medals
Pan American Games logo Pan American Games
bronze 2015 Toronto Team all-around
bronze 2015 Toronto Individual all-around
Olympic rings Youth Olympic Games
gold 2014 Nanjing ground
silver 2014 Nanjing (Individual) all-around
silver 2014 Nanjing Balance beam

Flávia Lopes Saraiva (born September 30, 1999 in Rio de Janeiro ) is a Brazilian gymnast . With a height of 1.33 m and a weight of 31 kg, she was the smallest and lightest athlete at the 2016 Summer Olympics .

life and career

Career start

Flávia Saraiva was born on September 30, 1999 in Rio de Janeiro as the daughter of Fábia Brito Lopes Saraiva and João Saraiva Ubirajara and grew up under modest circumstances next to her brother João, who was around four or five years younger, in the neighborhood of Paciência . At the age of nine, she began her career as a gymnast through a social project in her hometown, relatively late for this sport. Here she was discovered by the well-known Brazilian trainer and coordinator Georgette Vidor and promoted from then on. After her mother first brought her to the neighborhood of Campo Grande for training, she continued to train four times a week, twice in Campo Grande and twice on another project. Georgette Vidor, who was in a wheelchair after a serious bus accident in 1997, brought her to their parent club Flamengo Rio de Janeiro , which subsequently also became Flávia Saraiva's parent club. At the beginning she was trained by Heine Milani , a Brazilian gymnast who won several titles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and soon after took part in her first competition, in which she could not convince.

After her performances got better and better, Heine Milani took her to a gym ( Academia Bodytech ), where she was trained in a group by Altair Prado and his assistant Renan Coelho. Already at this time the petite gymnast was nicknamed Flavinha , which means little Flávia . From the beginning she was also noticed by her charisma , which has run through her career so far. Georgette Vidor compared her, among other things, with the former gymnast Daiane dos Santos , whose discovery she was also involved in, and whom she describes as an explosion of charisma . After her family had to give up a lot for her daughter's career right from the start, the social project received sponsorship from SESI in 2012 , which is closely linked to the SENAI institution . With the money from the sponsorship, a promising group was to be created in the Três Rios community. Vidor invited Saraiva to move to Três Rios, well over 100 kilometers north, and to intensify her training, in the group known as Qualivida .

2012 and 2013

After moving to Três Rios, she was trained twice a day by the former gymnast Alexandre Carvalho (long name: Alexandre da Cunha Carvalho ; often also Alexandre Cunha ), who mainly worked as a trampoline gymnast . The former trampoline gymnast put together a group of girls from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and brought Flávia Saraiva, who had made a good leap towards the national team, into this group. That year she won her first competitions on the balance beam and was also able to convince in floor exercise. In 2013, the Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro , the Olympic Committee of Brazil, hired the previous head coach of the Russian gymnasts, Alexander Alexandrow, as coach, and the Belarusians Margarita Vatkina and Vladimir Vatkin as assistant coaches for the Brazilian gymnasts. Under the coordinator Georgette Vidor and the Russian-Belarusian coaching staff, Flávia Saraiva was used for the first time in international competitions in the Brazilian national team in 2013. Shortly before that, she took part in her first international event, the Houston National Invitational in Houston , Texas , in February 2013 , where she finished tenth in the all-around event . In November and December of the same year she took part in the high school in her own country, where she won gold medals in floor exercise and on the balance beam at Ginásio Nilson Nelson , as well as a silver medal in the team all-around competition and placed sixth on the uneven bars .

2014

She started the 2014 competition season with a participation in the WOGA Classic in February 2014 in the US state of Texas. She took first place on the balance beam, second place in the team all-around and fifth in the individual all-around. She then took part in the Pan American Junior Championships, the qualifying tournament for the Youth Olympic Games , in March 2014 . Here she achieved outstanding performance and won gold medals in all-around and in floor exercise, a silver medal in team all-around and two bronze medals on the uneven bars and on the beam. In August of the same year she became Brazilian junior champion and added a bronze medal on the bar to her previous collection of medals. After initially not being scheduled for the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing , China , she replaced her injured teammate Rebeca Andrade and took part in the Summer Olympic Games for her. There she was able to qualify for the finals in the all-around competition, the balance beam and the floor exercise and then won medals in all three of these competitions. In addition to a gold medal on the floor, which she won 0.033 points ahead of the Russian Seda Gurgenovna Tutchaljan , she also secured a silver medal on the bar (0.633 points behind the Chinese Wang Yan ) and a silver medal in the all- around , again behind the Russian Seda Gurgenovna Tutchaljan. That year, after a fan vote, she was awarded the Prêmio Brasil Olímpico , the highest recognition a Brazilian athlete can achieve at national level.

2015

After the successes in 2014, she took part in the FIG World Challenge Cup in São Paulo , one of seven World Cup competitions in 2015, the following year . At the beginning of May 2015 she took first place on the floor and behind the Chinese Shang Chunsong, she finished second on the balance beam. Subsequently, she took part in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto in July 2015 , winning bronze medals in individual and team all-round competitions. While she finished third in the singles behind the American Madison Desch (second) and the Canadian Ellie Black (first), there were slightly reversed roles in the team all-around competition, where the United States ranked ahead of Canada and Brazil. After Flávia Saraiva qualified in first place for the final on the balance beam, she only came in fifth place and even left her compatriot Julie Sinmon in fourth place. It was similar for her in her second parade discipline, the floor exercise, when, after a third place in the qualification, she only reached the sixth place. On the uneven bars she just failed ninth in the qualification, with the eighth placed qualifying for the final.

2016

Flávia Saraiva on the balance beam (2016)

In 2016, Flávia Saraiva was able to attract attention several times. After she had easily qualified as first place for the final in floor exercise at the World Cup in Baku , she also managed a problem-free qualification as first on the balance beam and second on the uneven bars. In the subsequent finals, she achieved the gold medal on the floor and on the balance beam and was third and accordingly a bronze medalist on the uneven bars. At other World Cup appearances this year, she was mostly able to convince and get more medals, including two gold medals (balance beam and floor) at the World Cup in Anadia in June. From March 19-20, 2016 Saraiva competed for the first time at the Trofeo Città di Jesolo , a women's gymnastics tournament that has been held in Jesolo every year since 2008 . As an individual athlete, however, she could not win a medal and finished the competitions on the balance beam on rank 5 and on the floor on rank 4; in addition there was also a fourth place in the individual all-around competition, where she was the only gymnast from outside the United States among the first seven athletes. In the team all-around competition, she came in second place behind the dominating US-Americans with the Brazilians around Rebeca Andrade, Jade Barbosa , Daniele Hypólito , Lorrane Oliveira and Carolyne Pedro .

At the Gymnastics Olympic Test Event 2016 , also called Aquece Rio 2016 , which took place in April 2016 and was sometimes considered a qualifying tournament for the subsequent Summer Olympics in Rio, Flávia Saraiva was able to convince and won, in addition to a silver medal on the bar and a gold medal on the floor still silver in the individual all-around and gold in the team all-around. After this problem-free qualification, she represented her home country at the 2016 Summer Olympics in her hometown in August 2016 , where she was the smallest and lightest athlete with a height of 1.33 m and a weight of 31 kg. At these Olympic Games, however, she was not the only athlete under 1.40 m, the French gymnast Oréane Lechenault was only one centimeter taller at the time, the English gymnast Claudia Fragapane three centimeters. At the Olympic Games, she only made it to the finals on the balance beam, where she was eliminated in fifth place. In the qualification for the individual all-around event, she was ranked 19th out of 61, and with Brazil in the team all-around event she was eighth and last in the final.

2017

At the beginning of April 2017 she took part in the Trofeo Città di Jesolo for the second time. In addition to a fifth place in the individual all-around, she won the silver medal on the balance beam, as well as gold in the floor exercise, behind the American Riley McCusker . She shared the latter medal with Abby Paulson from the United States, who got the same rating. Saraiva's positive performance was rounded off by a silver medal, which she won alongside Rebeca Andrade, Thais Fidelis and Carolyne Pedro in the team all-around competition. At the World Cup in Koper , which will take place from May 12 to 14, 2017 , she then won bronze on the uneven bars, which she last achieved at last year's World Cup in Baku. After successfully qualifying for the main floor gymnastics round, she botched her appearance there and finished eighth and last. At the balance beam, she just barely made it onto the podium and took fourth place. After she had not sustained a serious injury during the botched floor exercise in Koper, she took part in the World Cup in Osijek just a few days later .

At the so-called FIG World Challenge Cup Osijek, she competed in the qualification for three different disciplines from May 18 to 21, 2017. In the qualification for the floor exercise she took first place, in the qualification on the balance beam she was fourth and finished 7th in the qualification on the uneven bars. After qualifying for all three main rounds, she won silver on the floor, bronze on the bar and, as the best Brazilian, was fifth on the uneven bars. The surprise winner of this World Cup was her compatriot Thais Fidelis, who was still 15 at the time and won gold twice. After that, she did not take part in any other international competition that year, but was present at the Brazilian State Championships in São Bernardo do Campo from June 22 to 24, 2017 . In the individual all-around event she was the best athlete on the balance beam and on the floor, but only finished seventh in the final ranking because she had not participated in the other two disciplines. As Saraiva suffered from an injury earlier this year, she missed the 2017 World Gymnastics Championships in Montreal at the beginning of October , where Brazil only sent two gymnasts, Rebeca Andrade and Thais Fidelis.

2018

As in the previous two years, Saraiva took part in the Trofeo Città di Jesolo again in April 2018 and was able to achieve similar successes as in the previous year. As one of the best participating athletes on the ground, she achieved second place in this discipline behind the American Emma Malabuyo, who was over three years younger, and thus won the silver medal. After she hadn't made it to the podium in the individual all-around in the last two years, she was only eighth this year. Once again, she was able to celebrate the silver medal in the team all-around competition, which the United States had not won for the first time since 2009, with the Brazilians around Jade Barbosa, Luiza Domingues and Carolyne Pedro. The highlights of the year for the short Brazilian were certainly the South American Games 2018 in the Bolivian city ​​of Cochabamba . At the gymnastics competitions at the end of May, she won the gold medal on the uneven bars and the balance beam in front of her compatriot Jade Barbosa (2nd) and the Argentine Martina Dominici (3rd). Furthermore, she came second in the individual all-around and took first place in the team all-around with Jade Barbosa, Luiza Dominguez, Thais Fidels, Caroylne Pedro and Anna Reis, ahead of Argentina and Colombia.

At the Brazilian State Championships, which took place in São Bernardo do Campo from June 22nd to 24th, as in the previous year, she only finished fourth in the individual all-around, despite gold on the floor and silver on the bar. About two months later she also took part in the other Brazilian State Championships ( Brazilian Event Championships ), in which individual competitions were now also held. Saraiva already stood out in qualifying as the best on the balance beam and second on the floor and did not make it into the main round with an eighth place only on the uneven bars. It was there that she kept her shape and won gold on the balance beam and silver in the floor exercise. Also in the team all-around competition she reached the gold medal with her team from Flamengo Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian, who is just before her 19th birthday, presented herself as a four-time medalist at the Pan American Gymnastics Championships 2018 in the Peruvian capital Lima , although the dominance of the US women in all disciplines was clearly noticeable. Saraiva won two silver medals in the floor exercise (behind Jade Carey ) and on the balance beam (behind Kara Eaker ), where she was only 14th on the uneven bars as the worst of four participating Brazilian women. Above all, it was thanks to her outstanding performance on the bar and on the floor that the 1.33 cm tall athlete won the bronze medal in the individual all-around competition, in which she only achieved average results on the vault and on the uneven bars. Behind the United States, the Brazilians also won the silver medal in the team all-around competition.

When the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) announced the squad for the 2018 World Gymnastics Championships from October 25 to November 3, 2018 , Saraiva was also on the squad lists. At the World Championships in Doha , however, she could hardly assert herself by a fifth place in the qualification, she was only able to qualify for the main round in floor exercise in an individual discipline. In addition, she was qualified for the main round by a tenth place in the individual all-around and a fifth place in the team all-around. In this, Saraiva could not prevail against the competition, was fifth on the floor and finished 8th in the individual all-around. Even in the team all-around competition, actually a parade discipline for the Brazilians, they only took seventh of eight places in a field of participants that was closely spaced apart from the dominant US-Americans. After these mediocre performances, part of the Brazilian contingent took part in the Arthur Gander Memorial , a memorial tournament for former FIG President Arthur Gander , in Chiasso , Switzerland , on November 14, 2018 . Together with her compatriot Jade Barbosa, she dominated this competition and was behind Barbosa silver medalist in the individual all-around. Four days later Saraiva was also present at the Swiss Cup Zurich , where she took sixth place in the preliminary round alongside Arthur Mariano in the mixed team all-around competition. Only the three best-placed teams of two were qualified for the main round; Among them was Jade Barbosa, who won the bronze medal in a Pan America team with the Canadian Cory Paterson . Saraiva ended the busy year 2018 at the end of November at the 43rd championship tournament in Cottbus , where she became the audience's favorite over the four days of the competition. Already in the qualification she achieved first place on the balance beam and came second in the floor exercise. In the following main round, these results were rotated and the 1.33 m tall Saraiva won gold on the beam and silver on the bottom.

Web links

Commons : Flávia Saraiva  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sizes, weights and age comparison at the 2016 Summer Olympics on bbc.com , accessed on August 11, 2016
  2. ↑ A expectativa do pódio (Portuguese), accessed on August 19, 2016
  3. ↑ Heine Milani on georgettevidor.com.br ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Portuguese), accessed August 19, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.georgettevidor.com.br
  4. ↑ Brazilian Olympic Committee hires Alexandre Alexandrov as coach of Brazil s women s national Gymnastics Team , accessed on August 19, 2016
  5. ↑ Flavia Lopes Saraiva - Brazil - 2013 HNI , accessed on August 19, 2016
  6. ↑ Ginasta Flávia Saraiva fatura medalhas de ouro e prata nos Jogos da Juventude (Portuguese), accessed on August 19, 2016
  7. ↑ Concorrendo ao Prêmio Brasil Olímpico, Flávia Saraiva é destaque no Esporte Espetacular (Portuguese), accessed on August 19, 2016
  8. ↑ Aos 15 anos e debutante em Pan, Flavia Saraiva é bronze (Portuguese), accessed on August 22, 2016
  9. ↑ a b 2016 Baku Challenge Cup Results (English), accessed on August 19, 2016
  10. ↑ On Not Sending Gymnasts to Worlds , accessed December 27, 2018
  11. ^ The World Championships Women's Master Team List , accessed December 27, 2018
  12. ↑ 2nd FINAL DAY: ZONDERLAND WINNING ON THE RECK , accessed on December 27, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Saraiva, Flávia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lopes Saraiva, Flávia (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brazilian gymnast
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1999
PLACE OF BIRTH Rio de Janeiro , Brazil