Larissa França

Beach Volleyball player infobox


fullname=Larissa França
nickname=Larissa
dateofbirth= birth date and age|1982|04|14
cityofbirth=Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, ES
countryofbirth=BRA
dateofdeath=
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hometown=Fortaleza
homecountry=Brazil
height= convert|1.74|m|abbrev=on|ftin|abbrev=on
weight= convert|68|kg|lb|abbr=on
currentteammate=Juliana Felisberta
years=
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tours (points)=
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Larissa França (born April 14, 1982 in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim) is a female beach volleyball player from Brazil, who won the bronze medal in the women's beach team competition at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, partnering Ana Richa.

After starting her beach volleyball career in 2001, França began collecting medals in 2003 when she teamed with Richa. While participating in four World Tour events, including a 17th at the 2003 FIVB World Championships, França and Richa also won a Brazilian domestic event and finished third in the team rankings behind 2004 Athens Olympians Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede and Ana Paula Connelly/Sandra Pires.

França and Juliana Felisberta collected a medal in their first-ever international event together in March 2004 at Fortaleza, where they had to play country quota and qualifying matches to gain a berth in the main draw where they defeated Chinese Olympians Tian Jia and Wang Fei for the bronze medal. Their only defeats in the tournament were to Athens Olympic finalists Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh of the United States, and Brazilian rivals Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede.

Larissa played in the 2008 Olympic Games with Ana Paula Connelly, since Juliana injured herself shortly before the games. [http://www.fivb.org/en/Infomedia/PressReleaseDB.asp?No=17834&Language=0] In the tournament the duo reached the quarterfinals, being defeated by later Olympic champions Walsh/May-Treanor.

Only May-Treanor and Walsh have stood in the way of França and Felisberta's complete domination on the 2005 FIVB World Tour. The couple set a FIVB World Tour record for single-season earnings for both men and women teams with $409,750 in winnings in 2005 as the pair claimed six gold medals and fourteen podium placements in fifteen starts.

França started playing volleyball in 1997, and helped her club to capture a Brazilian title in 2000. She switched to beach volleyball in 2001 and entered the rankings within six months.

References

* [http://www.bvbinfo.com/player.asp?ID=5145 Larissa França - Profile] at the Beach Volleyball Database