The Most Famous

SWIMMERS from Brazil

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This page contains a list of the greatest Brazilian Swimmers. The pantheon dataset contains 709 Swimmers, 8 of which were born in Brazil. This makes Brazil the birth place of the 15th most number of Swimmers behind Denmark, and Canada.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Brazilian Swimmers of all time. This list of famous Brazilian Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Brazilian Swimmers.

Photo of Tetsuo Okamoto

1. Tetsuo Okamoto (1932 - 2007)

With an HPI of 45.97, Tetsuo Okamoto is the most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.

Tetsuo Okamoto (20 March 1932 – 1 October 2007) was a Brazilian Olympic swimmer.

Photo of César Cielo

2. César Cielo (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 40.61, César Cielo is the 2nd most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

César Augusto Cielo Filho (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsɛzɐʁ siˈelu ˈfiʎu], born 10 January 1987) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint events. He is the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history, having obtained three Olympic medals, winning six individual World Championship gold medals and breaking two world records. Cielo is the current world record holder in the 50-metre freestyle (long course). He received induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in September 2023. César Cielo is the third Brazilian to enter the International Swimming Hall of Fame, after Maria Lenk and Gustavo Borges. His gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, in the 50-metre freestyle competition, is Brazil's only Olympic gold in swimming to date. In 2008, he broke the NCAA record in the 50-yard (46 m) freestyle (18.47 seconds) and in the 100-yard (91 m) freestyle (40.92 seconds). Cielo became the fastest swimmer in the world in the two distances, and was named NCAA Swimmer of the Year for the second year in a row. Cesar currently lives and trains in Itajaí.

Photo of Gustavo Borges

3. Gustavo Borges (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 33.11, Gustavo Borges is the 3rd most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Gustavo França Borges (born 2 December 1972) is a Brazilian former competitive swimmer. He swam for Brazil in four Summer Olympic Games: 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Borges has won the fourth-most Olympic medals of any Brazilian, with four —one in 1992, two in 1996 and one in 2000—only behind sailors Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael and canoeist Isaquias Queiroz with five, and gymnast Rebeca Andrade with six. He also has eight Pan American Games gold medals, the third-most of any Brazilian and only behind swimmer Thiago Pereira and table tennis player Hugo Hoyama. Borges was Brazil's flagbearer for the Closing Ceremony at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Borges' first medal was silver, which he won in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1992 Olympics, which he received after a delay because his lane's timer was not working, and the judges had to review video recordings of the race to verify his place. Borges even overcame his idol, Matt Biondi, to win the silver medal. Borges lives in São Paulo, where he runs his own swimming school. He used to live in the United States in Jacksonville, Florida and in Ann Arbor, Michigan while he was still a student. He attended university at the University of Michigan in the mid-1990s, where he swam for the university's team, coached by Jon Urbanchek and graduated with a degree in Economics. His teammates at Michigan included Eric Namesnik and Marcel Wouda in the mid-1990s.

Photo of Ana Marcela Cunha

4. Ana Marcela Cunha (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 32.47, Ana Marcela Cunha is the 4th most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Ana Marcela Jesus Soares da Cunha (born 23 March 1992) is a Brazilian swimmer who specializes in the open water swimming marathon. She is considered one of the best open water swimmers in history, having obtained 17 medals in FINA World Aquatics Championships (including seven gold medals as of 2024). She has also received FINA’s Female World Open Water Swimmer Of The Year award six times (2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019). Her countless achievements are comparable only to those of Larisa Ilchenko, another multi-medalist in World Championships. Cunha won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon 10 km.

Photo of Thiago Pereira

5. Thiago Pereira (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 30.92, Thiago Pereira is the 5th most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Thiago Machado Vilela Pereira (born 26 January 1986) is a retired Brazilian international competition swimmer. One of the greatest swimmers in the history of Brazil, Pereira won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, beating the then-current Olympic champion Michael Phelps. He also broke a world record in the short course 200-meter individual medley, and broke several South American and Brazilian records. During his career, he competed with swimming legends Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Pereira is a resident of Belo Horizonte, and became known as Ricardo Prado's successor in his native country after winning the silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2003. In 2004, he won the world title in the same event at the 2004 FINA Short Course World Championships. After that, Pereira won six gold medals at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, breaking the record of five gold medals won in one Pan American Games, previously held by Mark Spitz. Pereira broke the short course 200-meter individual medley world record later that same year. He represented Brazil at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2004. As of July 2015, Pereira is the Brazilian athlete with most gold medals won in Pan American Games: 15 earned in four Pan American Games. In 2015, Pereira became the athlete with the most medals in the history of Pan American Games, surpassing the Cuban gymnast Eric López, who won 22 medals between 1991 and 2003. Pereira finished Toronto with 23 total medals.

Photo of Bruno Fratus

6. Bruno Fratus (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 30.42, Bruno Fratus is the 6th most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Bruno Giuseppe Fratus (born 30 June 1989) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer. He won a bronze medal in the 50-metre freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In July 2021, Fratus became the first swimmer in history to swim the long course 50 metre freestyle race in less than 22 seconds 90 times. He surpassed this mark by swimming his 100th sub-22 second 50 metre freestyle at the 19th World Aquatics Championships in June 2022. In the 50 metre freestyle, he won 3 medals in a row at the World Championships in 2015, 2017 and 2019 (2 silver and 1 bronze), in addition to having won silver in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay in 2017. He is also the gold medalist in the 50 metre freestyle at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships and at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Photo of Poliana Okimoto

7. Poliana Okimoto (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 30.04, Poliana Okimoto is the 7th most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Poliana Okimoto (born March 8, 1983) is a Brazilian long-distance swimmer.

Photo of Fernando Scheffer

8. Fernando Scheffer (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 22.64, Fernando Scheffer is the 8th most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Fernando Muhlenberg Scheffer (born 6 April 1998) is a Brazilian swimmer. In the 200 metre freestyle, he is the bronze medalist of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the gold medalist at the 2019 Pan American Games and the South American record holder in the event. He became the world champion and world record holder in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2018 World Swimming Championships in short course.

Photo of Marcelo Chierighini

9. Marcelo Chierighini (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 0.00, Marcelo Chierighini is the 9th most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Marcelo Chierighini (born 15 January 1991) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer. In the 100 metre freestyle, he was an Olympic finalist at the Rio 2016 Games, and four times in a row a finalist at the World Championships in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. In the 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay, he holds a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships.

Photo of Vinicius Lanza

10. Vinicius Lanza (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Vinicius Lanza is the 10th most famous Brazilian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Vinicius Moreira Lanza (born 22 March 1997, in Belo Horizonte) is a Brazilian swimmer. He competed at the collegiate level for Indiana University. He is a member of the London Roar team, competing in Season 2 of the International Swimming League (ISL). The ISL is an annual professional swimming league featuring a team-based competition format with fast-paced race sessions. Ten teams featuring the world's best swimmers will compete for the ISL title in 2020.

People

Pantheon has 29 people classified as Brazilian swimmers born between 1932 and 2004. Of these 29, 28 (96.55%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Brazilian swimmers include César Cielo, Gustavo Borges, and Ana Marcela Cunha. The most famous deceased Brazilian swimmers include Tetsuo Okamoto. As of April 2024, 21 new Brazilian swimmers have been added to Pantheon including Marcelo Chierighini, Vinicius Lanza, and Guilherme Basseto.

Living Brazilian Swimmers

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Deceased Brazilian Swimmers

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Newly Added Brazilian Swimmers (2024)

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