Guilhermina Fears Herself More Than Her Rivals in Christchurch

“The biggest pressure I feel is what I put on myself. I’m working hard to try use this pressure to my advantage and to push me to victory.”

With less than 40 days to go until the 2011 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships in New Zealand, Brazilian sprinter and world record holder Terezinha Guilhermina has finally pinpointed her biggest rival for gold – herself!

The 32 year old four-time Paralympic medal winner will be defending her 200m world title in Christchurch and is well aware that not only is she the athlete to beat but the pressure that comes with such a title.

“I consider all athletes that I will be on the track against as rivals as we all want the gold medal,” Guilhermina told www.paralympic.org, the International Paralympic Committee’s website. “But my main rival is myself.

“In Christchurch at the World Championship my aspiration is to overcome myself. I want to run the best results of my life.

“The biggest pressure I feel is what I put on myself. I’m working hard to try use this pressure to my advantage and to push me to victory,” she added.

In an attempt to win all three sprint gold medals and run faster than ever before in Christchurch - an event she is looking forward to - Guilhermina is training six times a week putting in between three and five hours work each day. She is also working hard to change her running style.

“I’m 1,000% excited about the World Championships. I want all the best it can bring me,” said Guilhermina whose hero is the late Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, a fellow Brazilian.

“I’m training hard and technically correcting my style so that I use all my strength in favour and not against me as it was in other competitions. I’m learning to run a lot more relaxed and run faster than I ever have before.”

Guilhermina’s career so far is a modern day fairytale which was kick-started by the generosity and support of her family who have followed her progress every step of the way from first training session to Paralympic champion.

“I got into athletics in 2000 after I finished high school. My family was really poor, so I needed to earn some money,” explained Guilhermina.

“It was difficult for me though because of my blindness to find a job.”

An opportunity came about when a local swimming and athletics club set-up in her neighbourhood. However, due to a lack of equipment she could only take part in swimming.

Terezinha Guilhermina said: “When I arrived home, I told my sister that I preferred running but I couldn’t because I had no trainers. She only had one pair but she gave me her trainers to use.

“After that I began to run and made athletics my profession.

“My brothers were my first sponsor. Although they didn’t have much money, what they had, they shared with me to buy trainers and supplements,” added Guilhermina who describes her dad as her number one fan.

Initially Guilhermina ran long distances of between 5km and 21km just to earn money for her family but found herself a medal winner over short distances on the track.

At the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games she competed in all distances from 400m through to 1,500m, and won bronze in the shorter distance.

In 2005 due to a lack of sponsorship Guilhermina considered giving up athletics altogether until Loterias CAIXA stepped in to sponsor her.

After completely losing her vision in 2006 Guilhermina decided just to concentrate on the sprint events and at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Assen, the Netherlands she struck gold in the 200m and picked up silver in the 100m and 400m.

The highlight of her career so far though has been the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games where she won gold in the 200m, silver in the 100m and bronze in the 400m.

Terezinha Guilhermina said: “I confess that I was surprised by just how successful Beijing was. My favourite moment was when I climbed onto the podium to receive the 200m gold medal because I had done it twice before but never stood on the top step.

“Listening to the Brazilin anthem gave me a sense of everything and the best part was that I could dedicate my gold medal to my father for all Brazilians to see on TV. It was God’s gift.”

Terezinha Guilhermina will be one of more than 1,000 athletes from over 70 countries competing in January’s IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch New Zealand, the biggest ever to take place.

Other big names lining up alongside Guilhermina in the biggest international gathering of athletes before London 2012 include South Africa’s ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius, Irish sprinter and ‘Fastest Paralympian on the Planet’ Jason Smyth and the American duo of April Holmes and Jessica Galli.