As a child, Nayara wanted to be a ballerina. But at eight years old, her fragile health, and a pharyngitis not healed, led her to the pools. The athlete only defined to have a professional swimmer career at age 14, when she broke a legendary record: at Juvenile South American Championships, in Vitória, Espírito Santo, she broke the South American record of the 400-metre freestyle, which lasted since 1988, with a time of 4:19.32. The owner of the previous record was Patrícia Amorim, who, at the 1988 Summer Olympics marked 4:19.64.[2][3]
International career
At just 15 years old, participating at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, she won a bronze medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle.[4] She also finished 6th in the 400-metre freestyle, and 7th in the 200 and 800-metre freestyle.[5][6]
On June 5, 2000, she broke the South American Record of the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:46.55.[7] On November 16, 2000, she broke the short-course South American record of the same race, doing 8:33.69. This record was only broken by Kobrich on 2004,[8] but still was a Brazilian record until 2010, when Poliana Okimoto broke the record.[9]
Participating in the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Nayara, 17 years old, managed to get to the 1500-metre freestyle final, finishing in 8th place. She was the first Brazilian woman to qualify for a World Championship final, where she finished the race in 16:40.37. On July 27, during qualifying, she broke the Brazilian and South American records in the 1500-metre freestyle, with a time of 16:32.18.[10] This South American record was not broken until 2013, when Poliana Okimoto made a time of 16:26.90.[11] At this competition, she also finished 13th in the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:43.85, South American record.[12][13]
On May 3, 2002, Nayara broke the South American record of the 1500-metre freestyle (in short course), with a time of 16:13.64.[16] This was the Brazilian record until September 25, 2010, when Poliana Okimoto scored 16:09.04 time.[17]
At the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Nayara did a great tournament, finishing 4th in the 1500-metre freestyle, 5th in the 4×200-metre freestyle, and 6th in the 800-metre freestyle.[18] In Yokohama, she broke the South American Record of the 800-metre freestyle, with a time of 8:43.53, and also broke the 4×200-metre freestyle record, with a time of 8:15.80.[19][20]
At the 2006 South American Games in Buenos Aires, Nayara won the silver medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle.[24] She also had won bronze in the 1500-metre freestyle, but was disqualified after the race, losing this medal.[25]
