Meet Daniel Dias, the greatest Paralympic swimmer in history

Few sports stories can be as inspiring as that of Brazilian Daniel Dias. Born in the interior of São Paulo and raised in Minas Gerais, he could conform to a life of limitations due to his physical condition. Instead, he became the greatest Paralympic swimmer of all time.

O awesome.club now tells the story of this pride of Brazilian sport, owner of 24 medals in the Paralympic Games. An ace that we should revere more.

“At dawn he was born, I cried a lot and I didn’t even know why. Later we learned that our son was a boy who had neither hands nor feet”, says Daniel’s father in a text published on the athlete’s website. He was born on May 24, 1988, in Campinas, but the family lived in Camanducaia, Minas Gerais.

Rosa and Paulo, Daniel’s parents, made a point of never putting limits on their son’s life because of his physical condition. They encouraged Daniel Dias to pursue his dreams and desires regardless of any restrictions that his body might cause. Nothing is impossible. As a teenager, for example, he already played the drums, a hobby he keeps up to this day.

Even struggling to overcome his own limits, little Daniel dreamed of doing something that seemed to be beyond his ability: ride a bicycle. But who said he knew the word give up? He suffered, fought, cried and even with a prosthetic right leg he managed to win one day and achieve his dream. Not even the doctor believed that little Daniel had gotten there.

It was precisely because of this life without physical limits that Daniel created a “small” problem: he destroyed many prostheses, which he has been using on his right leg since he was three years old. He was a very active child and at school he played basketball, volleyball and football. Parents received phone calls saying that their son had broken his leg. In fact, it was more of a prosthesis that had broken in physical activities.

It was in the early 2000s that Daniel fell in love with swimming and decided he wanted to practice the sport. He was 16 years old and his inspiration was to see the achievements of Clodoaldo Silva, swimmer and one of the greatest Paralympic athletes in Brazil of all time. “We became friends when we started competing for the same medals,” recalls Clodoaldo, who won six gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games, the event that inspired Daniel to go to the pool.

From the moment he decided to dedicate himself to the life of a swimmer until he became world champion, it took just two years. In 2006, Daniel traveled to compete for the first time in a World Championship and in South Africa he won three gold and two silver medals. The following year, at the Parapan in Rio de Janeiro, he was on the podium eight times, each to receive gold medals. It was evident that a new phenomenon in the sport had been born.

It was at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics that Daniel won his first nine medals, four of them gold. He was a young athlete with just four years of experience who astonished the world with his results. After competing in London-2012 and Rio-2016, the Brazilian became the greatest Paralympic swimmer of all time, with 24 medals, 14 gold.

At an age when most athletes are already in the descending phase, Daniel has ambitious plans. He wants to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. “I want to get there, at least.” Saying this “at least” means that, who knows, we might even see Daniel in 2024, in Paris. He will be 36 years old, but we already understand that limit is not a word for him.

Asaph and Daniel, the two children of Daniel Dias with Raquel Andrade, will be accompanied by a little girl, who is scheduled to arrive in the first half of April. On social media, the athlete has even announced the name of the little girl. “Our world is now also pink, we will be parents of Princess Hadassa. The joy is immense”, wrote the champion in the post.

Isn’t this champion’s story amazing? Leave your comment telling us which part you found most inspiring.