His nickname might mean Little Gabriel, but even though he is just 1.21 metres (4 foot) tall, Gabriel dos Santos Araujo is a giant of Paralympic swimming.
“My name is Gabrielzinho and I’m going for three gold medals at the Paris Paralympics,” said the smiling 22-year-old Brazilian, before receiving a kiss on the forehead from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at an official ceremony last month in Brasilia.
Gabrielzinho’s objective at the Paralympics, which open on August 28, is to upgrade from the two golds and one silver he won at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
When he is not doing laps in the pool at Juiz de Fora, in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, Gabrielzinho is nurturing his popularity on Instagram, where he has over 50,000 followers.
As he has no hands or arms, he navigates his phone screen with his toes and uses this same technique to manipulate the joystick on his video game console — his other great passion.
To eat, he bends over to grab the food with his mouth, and then after meals he wedges an electric toothbrush between his toes to clean his teeth.
“I can’t count the number of obstacles I have to overcome every day, but it makes me stronger,” he told AFP.
His coach Fabio Pereira Antunes said he is a marvel.
“The first thing that impressed me was his dexterity outside the pool. He has great motor coordination and is very intelligent, which enables him to overcome all these obstacles on a daily basis,” said Antunes.
“Once I saw him in the water, I discovered all his potential. He has a champion’s mentality and knows how to handle pressure.”
Gabrielzinho suffers from phocomelia, a condition that arrests the development of a baby’s limbs during pregnancy.
‘Normal childhood’
The Brazilian has shoulder stumps and his legs are atrophied, but he can walk on both feet.
“I found out in the fifth month of pregnancy. Obviously, it was a shock,” said his mother, Ineida Magda dos Santos, a retired teacher.
“I started reading up on the subject to be ready to take the best possible care of him.
“Because we wanted him to have a normal childhood, we took him to a club where there was a swimming pool. By the age of four or five, he could already swim, even though he had no arms. I think it was a gift from God,” she said.
To swim, Gabrielzinho undulates in the water like a dolphin, using pelvic movements. A technique developed during long training sessions six times a week, from Monday to Saturday.
In and out of the pool, he performs strength-building exercises, particularly for his lumbar, abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.
Gabrielzinho discovered competition at the age of 13, in 2015, at a school tournament.
“A teacher entered him without consulting me, and he won five medals. Since then, he hasn’t stopped,” said his mother.
‘Dance a lot’
At 19, he competed at the Tokyo Games, just after learning of the death of his grandfather, nicknamed “Pratinha” (Little Silver), to whom he was very close.
“I was training, I was already in the final phase, and this huge blow came,” said Gabrielzinho, who was already in Japan when he received the news.
As if written in the sky, he began his medal haul in Tokyo with a silver in the 100m backstroke S2 — one of the categories for the most severely handicapped swimmers.
“I took it to mean that he was just watching me from the most special place, next to my grandmother too.”
Gabrielzinho then reached the top of the podium twice, in the 50m backstroke and 200m freestyle S2.
Each time, he celebrated with a trademark dance.
The swimmer’s goal in Paris is to defend his two Paralympic titles, “turn his silver medal in the 100m backstroke into gold” and “dance a lot”.
And he will be hoping to exhibit a new celebratory dance to his fans this summer as Gabrielzinho shared that he has come up with a new routine which he is keeping top secret, for the moment.
