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Personal information | |
---|---|
Birth name | Enezenaide do Rosário da Vera Cruz Gomes |
Nationality |
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Born | São Tomé and Príncipe | 20 November 1979
Spouse |
Pedro Oliveira (m. 2016) |
Sport | |
Sport | Athletics |
Club | Sporting CP |
Coached by | Abreu Matos |
Retired | 26 March 2015 |
Medal record |
Enezenaide "Naide" do Rosário da Vera Cruz Gomes[a] (born 20 November 1979) is a São Toméan-born Portuguese retired track and field athlete who competed in jumping, throwing, hurdling, and combined events. She is the 2004 World Indoor Champion in the pentathlon and the 2008 World Indoor Champion in the long jump. She is also the São Toméan record holder in nine disciplines and the Portuguese record holder in five disciplines. She notably set the Portuguese record in women's long jump 14 times, raising it from 6.56 metres to 7.12 metres.
Gomes moved from São Tomé and Príncipe to the Portuguese capital of Lisbon when she was 11. When she was 17, she joined Portuguese sports club Sporting CP and applied for Portuguese citizenship. She initially competed at international events as a representative of São Tomé and Príncipe before becoming a naturalised citizen of Portugal in 2001, upon which she changed her sport nationality.
A number of injuries altered the trajectory of Gomes' career. A knee injury in 2005 forced her to retire from the combined events, as it rendered her unable to train effectively for the high jump and hurdles events. In 2012, Gomes ruptured the Achilles tendon in her left leg but underwent a successful operation. However, additional prolonged injuries kept her away from the track from 2013 onward, and in 2015 she announced her retirement from competition. She has since become a physiotherapist.
Enezenaide do Rosário da Vera Cruz Gomes was born on 20 November 1979 in São Tomé and Príncipe, a Portuguese-speaking island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the west coast of Central Africa.[2][3][4][5] She spent most of her childhood in São Tomé and Príncipe with her family, which she later described as having been not wealthy, but never lacking anything either.[3] According to Gomes, her family had always called her by the nickname Naide, a shortened form of her given name Enezenaide.[3] When Gomes was five, her mother moved to Lisbon, Portugal, due to health problems. She consequently lived with her grandmother for a few years before joining her mother in Lisbon when she was 11.[3] She adapted well to life in Lisbon, as she already spoke Portuguese natively.[3] She later said that she "had quite a good education in São Tomé", which was "quite strict" in comparison to her education in Lisbon.[3]
Gomes began training for competitive athletics at the age of 13 but quickly stopped, believing her training to be interfering with her schoolwork. However, about a year later, while living in the parish of Fernão Ferro, across the Tagus Estuary from Lisbon, a physical education teacher convinced Gomes of her talent and encouraged her to resume training.[3] Gomes regarded Portuguese decathlon record holder Mario Anibal and American Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis as her role models.[6][7]
When she was 17, she joined Sporting CP in hopes of training under athletics coach Mário Moniz Pereira.[8] At Sporting she met Abreu Matos, who would become her longtime coach.[3] According to Gomes, by that time she "was among the best heptathletes and high jumpers in Portugal", and Sporting and the Portuguese Athletics Federation recommended her to become a Portuguese citizen.[3] She applied for Portuguese citizenship soon thereafter but would not receive it until she was 21.[8]
Gomes began competing internationally as a representative of her birth country São Tomé and Príncipe. Her first competition was the 1998 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics, held in Lisbon from 17 to 19 July, in which she placed sixth in the high jump event with a distance of 1.75 metres.[9]
In 1999, she won gold for the first time in her career, earning three gold medals at the Central African Athletics Championships in Garoua, Cameroon, in the women's 100 metres hurdles, 400 metres hurdles, and high jump events.[10] At the subsequent 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg, South Africa, she finished fifth in the women's heptathlon event with a score of 4974 points.[11]
She improved her standing at the 2000 Ibero-American Championships, winning her first silver medal in the women's heptathlon event with a score of 5463 points.[12]
Gomes made her Olympic debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and was given the honour of being São Tomé and Príncipe's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.[13] She competed in the women's 100 metres hurdles event and was assigned to lane seven of heat six for the first round. She finished last in her heat at eighth place, with a time of 14.43 seconds, and was eliminated from the competition.[14]
After a four-year naturalisation process, Gomes was granted Portuguese citizenship by the Ministry of Internal Administration on 4 May 2001, at the age of 21.[8][1] She made her international debut as a Portuguese athlete the following year, at the 2002 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Vienna, Austria. She won silver in the women's pentathlon event with a score of 4759 points.[15]
At the 2002 European Athletics Championships, she competed in the women's long jump and heptathlon events. She placed tenth in the long jump event with a best distance of 6.23 metres, and eighteenth in the heptathlon with a score of 5142 points. She was unable to complete the 800 metre race in the heptathlon event.[16]
Gomes participated in three international competitions in 2003. She competed in that year's IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in the women's pentathlon event on 14 March. She placed fifth with 4476 points.[17] At the 2003 Hypo-Meeting, held in Götzis, Austria, from 31 May to 1 June, she placed fourth in the women's heptathlon event with a score of 6,120 points.[18] She made her Universiade debut at the 2003 Summer Universiade in Daegu, South Korea. On 26 August, she finished sixteenth in the women's long jump event with a distance of 5.86 metres, failing to advance to the final.[19]
She won gold at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in the women's pentathlon event held on 5 March.[2] She ended the event with a score of 4,759 points, the lowest ever total for a first-place finish in the IAAF World Indoor Championships.[20] At the 2004 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics, held in Huelva, Spain, from 6 to 8 August, Gomes competed in three events: long jump, shot put, and javelin throw. She placed fourth in the long jump event with a distance of 6.36 metres, and eleventh in both the shot put and javelin throw events, with distances of 13.8 metres and 38.46 metres, respectively.[21] She competed in the women's heptathlon event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. She finished thirteenth with a score of 6151 points.[22]
In 2005, she won her first gold medal in a European competition, accomplishing the feat in that year's European Athletics Indoor Championships in Madrid, Spain. She placed first in the women's long jump event, held from 4 to 5 March, with a final distance of 6.6 metres, setting a new record for Portugal.[23] Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio made Gomes an Officer of the Order of Prince Henry (OIH) shortly after her return, on 8 March 2005.[24]
At the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland, Gomes competed in the heptathlon and long jump events. She placed seventh in the heptathlon event, held from 6 to 7 August, with a score of 6,189 points.[25] For the qualification round of the long jump event, held on 9 August, Gomes was placed in the first heat. She placed eighth in her heat with a distance of 6.42 metres and failed to advance to the final.[26] Gomes saw better results at the women's long jump event of the 2005 Summer Universiade, held in İzmir, Turkey, from 15 to 16 August. She advanced to the final after finishing first in the qualification round with a distance of 6.52 metres.[27] She went on to win silver in the final with a distance of 6.56 metres.[28]
A knee injury in 2005 prompted Gomes to retire from combined events and focus on long jump. The injury prevented her from training properly for the high jump and hurdles events, effectively ending her career in both as well as the combined events.[6] In a 2015 interview after her retirement, Gomes recalled: "I suffered a knee injury that prevented me from jumping high. This injury helped me decide to specialise in the long jump in 2005. It was the discipline in which I could improve the most."[29]
Gomes won silver in the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships and 2006 European Athletics Championships. At the World Indoor Championships held in Moscow, Russia, from 11 to 12 March, she finished the women's long jump event with a final distance of 6.73 metres, surpassing her previous record.[30] At the European Championships held in Gothenburg, Sweden, she finished the women's long jump event with a final distance of 6.84 metres.[31]
Gomes won her third gold medal in the women's long jump event at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom. She finished first in the qualification round and final with distances of 6.68 metres and 6.89 metres, respectively. The latter result surpassed Gomes' personal best and once again raised the Portuguese record.[32] In the women's long jump event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, held in Osaka, Japan, Gomes finished fourth with a final distance of 6.87 metres.[33]
Two weeks before the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, held from 7 to 9 March, Gomes once again set a Portuguese record for indoor long jump with a distance of 6.93 metres, beating her previous record by three centimetres.[34] She went on to win her second gold at the World Indoor Championships, this time in the women's long jump event with a final distance of 7 metres.[35]
Later in the year, Gomes placed first in two IAAF World Athletics Tour women's long jump events, in DN Galan, held in Stockholm, Sweden, on 22 July, and Herculis, held in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, on 29 July.[36] She ultimately won gold in that year's IAAF World Athletics Final for women's long jump, held in Stuttgart, Germany, on 13 September. She had a final distance of 6.71 metres.[37]
Gomes' strong performances throughout 2008 led analysts to view her as a favourite to win gold in the women's long jump event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. A month before the games, she had set a season's best of 7.12 metres, her best ever result. However, Gomes fouled on her first two attempts at the Olympic event, before stutter-stepping on her final attempt and ending with a distance of 6.29 metres, placing her 32nd overall (later changed to 31st following the disqualification of silver medalist Tatyana Lebedeva).[38][39]
She won gold in the women's long jump event at the 2009 Lusophony Games in Lisbon, with a distance of 6.74 metres.[40] She continued her success that year with another gold at the 2009 European Team Championships in Leiria, Portugal, again in women's long jump, with a final distance of 6.83 metres.[41] Gomes then won her first bronze in the women's long jump event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany, with a final distance of 6.77 metres.[42]
In 2010, Gomes won two consecutive silvers at that year's World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, and the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, Spain. In the former's women's long jump event, she had a final distance of 6.67 metres; in the latter's, she finished with a distance of 6.92 metres.[43][44]
Gomes made her final international appearances in 2011. She won silver a final time in the women's long jump event at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris, France.[45] She had a final distance of 6.79 metres.[46] Gomes failed to win a medal in her final international competition, the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, held in Daegu, South Korea. She placed ninth in the women's long jump event with a distance of 6.26 metres.[47]
On 10 June 2012, Gomes underwent a successful operation for a ruptured Achilles tendon in her left leg. This injury forced her to miss the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.[48]
On 26 March 2015, Gomes announced her retirement from competitive athletics at the age of 35, in a special news conference made alongside close friends and her longtime coach Abreu Matos. She cited prolonged injuries, which had kept her away from competition since 2013, as the main reason for her retirement. An injury to her supporting foot kept her from competing, and a knee injury required surgery. Gomes expressed pride in her career, in which she earned 11 medals at the international level.[45][49]
Gomes became a physiotherapist after her retirement from competition.[50]
She married her boyfriend Pedro Oliveira in 2016.[51] Their eldest child Mateus was born in 2015, shortly after her retirement, and their youngest Miguel was born in 2017.[52][53]
Gomes served as an ambassador for the 2022 São Silvestre El Corte Inglés, an annual running event in Lisbon.[50]
Competition | Year | Venue | Position | Event | Result | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ibero-American Championships | 1998 | Lisbon, Portugal | 6th | High jump | 1.75 m | [2] |
Central African Athletics Championships | 1999 | Garoua, Cameroon | 1st | 100 m H | 14.7 s | [10] |
1st | 400 m H | 69.0 s | [10] | |||
1st | High jump | 1.73 m | [10] | |||
All-Africa Games | Johannesburg, South Africa | 5th | Heptathlon | 4974 pts | [2] | |
Ibero-American Championships | 2000 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 2nd | Heptathlon | 5463 pts | [2] |
Olympic Games | Sydney, Australia | 36th (h) | 100 m H | 14.43 s | [2] |
Gomes set and holds the São Toméan records in women's 100 metres hurdles, long jump, high jump (both outdoor and indoor), triple jump, shot put (both outdoor and indoor), javelin throw, pentathlon, and heptathlon.[54] She also set and holds the Portuguese records in women's long jump (both outdoor and indoor), high jump, pentathlon, and heptathlon. Notably, she set the record in women's long jump 14 times, raising it from 6.56 metres to 7.12 metres.[55]
Event | Record | Date | Venue | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
100 m hurdles (o) | 14.06 | 29 July 2000 | Funchal, Portugal | [54] |
Heptathlon (o) | 5671 pts | 19–20 August 2000 | Logroño, Spain | [56] |
High jump (i) | 1.79 m | 13 February 2000 | Espinho, Portugal | [54] |
4 March 2001 | Lisbon, Portugal | [54] | ||
High jump (o) | 1.80 m | 19 August 2000 | Logroño, Spain | [57] |
Javelin throw (o) | 42.86 m | 13 July 2000 | Algiers, Algeria | [54] |
Pentathlon (i) | 3965 pts | 24 February 2001 | Espinho, Portugal | [54] |
Shot put (i) | 13.22 m | 10 February 2001 | Almada, Portugal | [54] |
Shot put (o) | 13.22 m | 10 February 2001 | Almada, Portugal | [58] |
Triple jump (o) | 11.73 m | 3 July 1999 | Maia, Portugal | [54] |
Event | Record | Date | Venue | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Heptathlon (o) | 6230 pts | 15–16 July 2005 | Logroño, Spain | [55] |
Long jump (i) | 7.00 m | 9 March 2008 | Valencia, Spain | [59] |
Long jump (o) | 7.12 m (+1.3 m/s) | 29 July 2008 | Fontvieille, Monaco | [55] |
High jump (i) | 1.88 m | 5 March 2004 | Budapest, Hungary | [60] |
Pentathlon (i) | 4759 pts | 5 March 2004 | Budapest, Hungary | [61] |