Aguida Amaral

Águeda Fátima Amaral, born May 27, 1972, is an East Timorese athlete. She was one of the first athletes to represent East Timor at the Olympic Games, when she ran the marathon at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. With a time of 3:10:55, she finished 43rd out of the 45 runners who completed the race, although eight other runners failed to finish.

The Associated Press reported::"Not realizing she had one more lap to run, Amaral stopped near the finish line and placed her hands together as she knelt to the track. An official gently informed Amaral she was not done, and she took one more lap to rousing applause." [ [http://espn.go.com/oly/summer00/news/2000/0923/771807.html "Takahashi breaks women's marathon record"] , Associated Press, September 24, 2000]

"The Independent" likewise reported that Amaral "completed the course to a standing ovation". [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000925/ai_n14324491 "Olympic Games: Athletics: Takahashi has rivals gasping in her wake"] , "The Independent", September 25, 2000]

The Sydney Olympics followed East Timor's declaration of indenpendence from Indonesia in 1999, and the ensuing violence. Amaral had fled her home in Dili, stayed in a refugee camp [ [http://www.etan.org/et2001b/may/27-31/27nyt.htm "Runners of East Timor Have Emerged as Symbols of Independence"] , "New York Times", May 27, 2001] , and returned eventually to find it looted and burned. Along with her home and other belongings, her only pair of running shoes had been destroyed in the arson attack. She trained for the Olympics by running barefoot, until shoes were donated to her by Australia. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E2DC1139F93AA3575AC0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "OLYMPICS; East Timor Athletes Enjoy Independence"] , "New York Times", September 9, 2000] [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501040823-682345,00.html "And in 54th place, it's..."] , "Time Magazine", August 16, 2004]

CNN described her arrival in the stadium as "the most moving moment" of the race. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2000/track_and_field/news/2000/09/23/womens_marathon_ap/ "Breakaway: Takahashi outruns pack en route to marathon mark"] , CNN, September 23, 2000] The "New York Times" wrote that her "performance in the Sydney Games inspired the world", and described her as "a source of national pride". [ [http://www.etan.org/et2001b/may/27-31/27nyt.htm "Runners of East Timor Have Emerged as Symbols of Independence"] , "New York Times", May 27, 2001]

Amaral competed again at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and, with a time of 3:18:25, finished 65th of the 66 runners who completed the marathon - her time over half an hour faster than that of Mongolia's Luvsanlkhündegiin Otgonbayar. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2004/schedules/99614ByEvent.html "Women's Marathon Final"] , CCN, August 22, 2004]

Amaral is a police officer, and, as of 2004, has four children. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/story/2004/06/03/easttimor040603.html "Tiny East Timor limbers up for Olympic debut"] , CBC, June 3, 2004]

External links

* [http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=179286/index.html IAAF profile]

References