48 Facts About Thiago Pereira

Thiago Machado Vilela Pereira was born on 26 January 1986 and 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.

Thiago Pereira broke a world record in the short course 200-meter individual medley, and broke several South American and Brazilian records.

Thiago 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.

Thiago Pereira broke the short course 200-meter individual medley world record later that same year.

Thiago Pereira represented Brazil at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2004.

In 2015, Thiago Pereira became the athlete with the most medals in the history of Pan American Games, surpassing the Cuban gymnast Eric Lopez, who won 22 medals between 1991 and 2003.

Thiago Pereira started swimming at age two when his mother enrolled him in swimming school after he fell into a pool and nearly drowned.

Thiago Pereira trained in the United States in 2005, moving shortly after the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Thiago Pereira moved to Coral Springs, Florida, but could not adapt to the local environment, methods and customs, and returned to Belo Horizonte.

At the age of 16, Thiago Pereira competed at the 2002 South American Games in Belem, where he won a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke.

Thiago Pereira competed at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, where he finished 18th in the 200-meter individual medley, 24th in the 400-meter individual medley, and 25th in the 200-meter breaststroke.

At the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Thiago Pereira won the silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley, and a bronze medal in the 400-meter individual medley.

In March 2004, in the 37th South American Swimming Championships in Maldonado, Thiago Pereira won the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley, beating the South American record with a time of 2:00.19 and earning an "A" designation in Brazil's Olympic classification.

Thiago Pereira broke the South American record two more times, with times of 1:59.92 and 1:59.48, before competing in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, becoming second in the world rankings.

In May 2004, Thiago Pereira broke Ricardo Prado's long-course South American record in the 400-meter individual medley, made at the 1984 Summer Olympics, which had been 4:18.45.

Thiago Pereira's time was 4:22.06, almost five seconds slower than his South American record.

Thiago Pereira left the pool, gasping and unable speak, and subsequently vomited in the locker room.

Thiago Pereira did not reach the final, and later said, "I feel very bad".

The race pace was strong: Thiago Pereira would have had to break his personal best by about 0.7 seconds to win the bronze medal.

At the 2004 FINA World Swimming Championships in Indianapolis, Thiago Pereira won the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 1:55.78, defeating Ryan Lochte and breaking the South American record.

In May 2005, Thiago Pereira dislocated the kneecap while playing soccer; his recovery took two months and did not participate in the 2005 World Aquatics Championships in Montreal.

Thiago Pereira finished 15th in the 200-meter individual medley and 17th in the 200-meter freestyle.

At the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Victoria, British Columbia, Thiago Pereira won a bronze medal in the 400-meter individual medley.

Thiago Pereira finished 21st in the 200-meter freestyle and qualified for the 200-meter individual medley final in 8th place, but did not swim in the final.

Thiago Pereira surpassed the five gold mark that belonged to Mark Spitz in the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Thiago Pereira finished 4th in the 200-meter individual medley, 8th in the 400-meter individual medley, and 19th in the 200-meter breaststroke.

Thiago Pereira broke the South American record with a time of 2:11.40.

In March 2009, Thiago Pereira broke a bone in his left hand, which made him give up Travessia dos Fortes and compromised his training for that year's World Championships in Rome.

Thiago Pereira thrice broke the South American record in the 200-meter individual medley, in the heats, semifinal and final, only 19 hundredths of a second away from winning a bronze medal and 31 hundredths away from winning a silver medal.

At the 2010 South American Games in Medellin, Thiago Pereira won three gold medals in the 200-meter individual medley, 400-meter individual medley and 200-meter breaststroke.

At the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine, Thiago Pereira won two bronze medals in the 200-meter individual medley and 400-meter individual medley.

Thiago Pereira won, at all stages, the 400-meter individual medley race.

Thiago Pereira was the first Brazilian to reach the top of the competition, and was the swimmer who won more events in the same season in the history of the circuit During the tournament, he broke the South American record in the 100-meter individual medley with a time of 52.35 seconds, and in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 1:52.72.

At the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Thiago Pereira won six gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal.

Thiago Pereira became the second Brazilian in total number of medals in Pan American Games, behind Gustavo Borges, who won 19 medals.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Thiago Pereira won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley, defeating Michael Phelps.

Thiago Pereira was one hundredth to win the silver medal.

Thiago Pereira had decided to forego the 400-meter individual medley despite being qualified for the race, but decided otherwise and entered the contest.

At the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, Thiago Pereira finished 4th in the 4x100-metre medley relay, along with Guilherme Guido, Felipe Franca and Marcelo Chierighini, 4th in the 200-metre individual medley, 5th in the 100-metre butterfly, and 7th in the 100-metre backstroke.

At the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Thiago Pereira won five medals, becoming the biggest medalist in the history of Pan American Games, surpassing the Cuban gymnast Erick Lopez, who has 22 medals between 1991 and 2003.

Thiago Pereira won a silver medal in the 200 metre individual medley and bronze in the 200 metre breaststroke.

However, the judges dictated Thiago Pereira failed to touch the wall with both hands at the same time on one of his breaststroke turns.

At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, in the Men's 200 metre individual medley, Thiago Pereira made his best participation in the World Championships, winning the silver medal with a time of 1:56.65, near his personal best.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in his home country, Thiago Pereira made his 4th consecutive final in the 200 individual medley, finishing 7th.

Thiago Pereira retired from professional swimming in March 2017, at the age of 31.

Thiago Pereira is the current holder of the following records:.

Thiago Pereira is the former holder of the following records:.