fullname birth_place weight height birth_date article_title strokes name
nádia vanda sousa eloy cruz luanda , angola 50 kg lb 0 on 1.59 0 on 12 july 1975 nádia cruz
 breaststroke nádia cruz
nádia cruz

nádia vanda sousa eloy cruz -lrb- born july 12 , 1975 in luanda -rrb- is a retired angolan swimmer , who specialized in breaststroke events .
she represented angola in all four editions of the olympic games since 1988 , and later became the chairman of the angolan olympic athletes association -lrb- aaoa -rrb- in 2010 .
cruz made her official debut , as a 13-year-old , at the 1988 summer olympics in seoul .
she failed to reach the top 16 final in the 100 m breaststroke , finishing in forty-second place at 1:24.46 .
cruz also competed in the same stroke at the 1992 summer olympics in barcelona , and at the 1996 summer olympics in atlanta , but finished outside the top 35 rankings .
twelve years after competing in her first olympics , cruz qualified for her fourth angolan team in the women 's 100 m breaststroke , as a 25-year-old , at the 2000 summer olympics in sydney .
because of her remarkable record and legacy , she became the nation 's flag bearer in the opening ceremony .
she also received a ticket from fina , under an olympic solidarity and universality program , in an entry time of 1:14.00 .
she challenged seven other swimmers in heat two , including bolivia 's 26-year-old katerine moreno , who also competed with her in their olympic debut back in 1988 .
coming from last at the initial turn , she held off a sprint challenge from papua new guinea 's xenia peni on the final stretch to pick up a seventh seed in a time of 1:19.57 .
cruz failed to advance into the semifinals , as she placed thirty-eighth overall in the prelims .
