Ribeiro started running with Grupo Desportivo do Kolossal, before joining FC Porto, which she represented from 1982-1992. She returned to FC Porto after two years at Maratona Clube da Maia. Along with her sports career, she has worked at her town hall as a sports adviser to the mayor.[where?]
Ribeiro has continued running in her later years and won third place at the 2010 Lisbon Half Marathon, when she was 40 years old.[2] She helped the Portuguese women's team win the title at the European Cup 10000 m in June 2010, rounding out the country's top runners with a seventh-place finish.[3]
Atlanta Olympic 10000 m gold medal, 1996edit
On 2 August 1996 Ribeiro ran in the finals of the Olympic women's 10000 m run. At the beginning of the last lap, Ribeiro was close behind the Chinese athlete Wang Junxia, world record holder and 5000 m Olympic champion. On the backstretch, Wang opened up as much as a 10-metre gap. In the last 200 meters accelerated, Ribeiro passed her opponent on the inside just as she entered the final straightaway. Wang had no answer.
At the end of the race, Fernanda said:
I had promised to fight until my very limits, I only missed finishing on my knees. From the third kilometer I started feeling pain on the Achilles' tendon, managed to withstand, suffered, but I, for the dream of becoming Olympic champion, was ready to run until... death knocked me over! I just got a bit scared when I saw Wang, isolating 400 m to the finish line. But that instant I wasn't defeated yet... it was when I remembered my promise to go to Fatima on foot.[citation needed]
14 International Medals - Team (11 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze)
Medals By Yearedit
1987 - 1
1988 - 1
1990 - 1
1992 - 2
1994 - 5
1995 - 2
1996 - 2
1997 - 3
1998 - 5
2000 - 3
2002 - 2
2003 - 2
2004 - 4
2005 - 2
2006 - 1
2007 - 1
2009 - 2
2010 - 1
Most International Medals - Womenedit
62 Caterine Ibargüen, COL
50 Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, BAH
43 Veronica Campbell-Brown, JAM
42 Merlene Ottey, JAM
40 Fernanda Ribeiro, POR
37 Maria de Lurdes Mutola, MOZ
32 Chandra Sturrup, BAH
Personal bestsedit
2000 m outdoor – 5:37.88 (Lisbon, 1996)
2000 m indoor – 5:37.34 (Valencia, 1996)
3000 m indoor – 8:39.49 (Stockholm, 1996)
5000 m outdoor – 14:36.45 (Hechtel, 1995)
5000 m indoor – 15:06.52 (Moscow, 1996)
10000 m – 30:22.88 (Sydney, 2000)
10000 m Olympic – 31:01.63 (Atlanta, 1996 – Olympic record)
Referencesedit
^"Fernanda Ribeiro Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
^Fernandes, Antonio Manuel (21 March 2010). "Scorching 58:23 World Half Marathon record by Tadese in Lisbon! - UPDATED". IAAF. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
^Ramsak, Bob (6 June 2010). "Farah and Monteiro take European Cup 10000m victories". IAAF. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
External linksedit
http://www.atletas.net Archived 31 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine