Naide Gomes

Having already competing in two Olympic Games in two different disciplines, Naide Gomes has now positioned herself as a legitimate gold medal threat in yet a third discipline in what will be her third Olympic Games. Born on the tiny island nation of São Tomé e Príncipe, Naide Gomes had an active youth on the rural equatorial island before moving to Lisbon at the age of eleven to rejoin her mother who had left for the Portuguese capital six years early to seek medical treatment.

Her talent as an athlete showed almost immediately. By age 17 she was already among the best heptathletes in Portugal, at which point she joined Sporting Club de Lisbon, where she met her current coach, Abreu Matos. Still a citizen of São Tomé in 2000, Gomes fell short of the Olympic standard necessary to compete in the heptathlon, but went to the Sydney Olympics in the 100m hurdles where she failed to qualify for the final.

Gomes, who became a Portuguese citizen in 2001, quickly proved herself as one of Portugal’s most successful athletes. A talented multi-event competitor, Gomes won a silver medal at the 2002 European Indoor Championships in the pentathlon and then won the same event at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships. While her first global championships may have made her a medal threat in the heptathlon at the Athens Olympics that summer, it was not to be. A poor showing relegated Gomes to thirteenth place. The following year, a knee injury limited her ability to train effectively for the high jump and hurdles and thus ended her career as a multi-event athlete.

Undaunted by her Athens disappointment, Gomes returned to competition as a focused long jumper and won the 2005 European Indoor gold medal in Madrid. The following year, she captured silver medals at both the European Outdoor Championships in Gothenburg, as well as a member of Team Europe at the IAAF World Cup in Athens.

In 2007, she successfully defended her European Indoor gold medal, setting a national record in the process. During the outdoor season, she reset her own national record in Madrid, eclipsing the seven meter barrier for the first time with a jump of 7.01m, which made her the fourth farthest jumper in the world that year. Similarly, Gomes took fourth at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, missing the bronze medal by a mere 3cm.

Determined to find her way to the medal stand at the Olympics this summer, Gomes made it clear that she was the dominant long jumper in the first half of 2008. She won all but one of her competitions and set three national records, the most important of which was recorded at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, which won Gomes her first global championship in the long jump. Having clearly found her way in the long jump since leaving behind the heptathlon, Gomes has now established herself as one of the best jumpers in the world, Gomes seems to be a clear contender to leap her way to a podium finish this summer in Beijing.