Brilliant young Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias, aged 22, won eight gold medals, one silver medal and broke five world records at the 2010 IPC World Swimming Championships in Eindhoven in August. In a spectacular year, he also won four gold medals at the Open Greek Swimming Championships, six gold medals on the Brazilian national circuit and three gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro international meeting.
Daniel was born with malformed upper and lower limbs and took up swimming at the age of 16 after watching fellow Brazilian Clodoaldo Silva at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games. He learned all four strokes in just two months and started to train for the 2006 IPC Paralympic Swimming World Championships in Durban, where he won three gold and two silver medals.
