Para Sailor Spotlight - Q&A with Ana Paula Marques

Ana Paula Marques first started sailing in 2014 as part of her rehabilitation at the Sarah Kubitscheck network of hospitals in Brazil’s capital city, Brasilia. From there she never looked back! Her love for the sport has seen her achieve great things and progress year on year – she is a four-time district champion and three-time Para World Championships medallist, scoring silver in 2017 in Germany, gold in 2018 in USA and bronze in 2019 in Spain.

Ana also proudly represented her country as a torch bearer for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Understandably, Marques is highly focused on seeing sailing reinstated for LA28 and beyond. Find out more in the Q&A below:

How did you start sailing and why?

“In 2014, I was at Sarah Kubitschek Hospital, where I was doing sports rehabilitation. A friend who is a Physical Education teacher there invited me to learn about sailing, which at the time was in the Paralympics.

This was my first contact with sailing – a simple trip on Lake Paranoá, an artificial lake located in Brasília, the capital of Brazil – and it was love at first sight. I fell in love with the pleasure I felt when sailing.

After that I never stopped.”

Who has been your biggest supporter?

“I have many people who have supported and encouraged me to this day in sailing. They are my friends, my son and my boyfriend who is also a sailor. I can’t choose just one among them!”

When you look back on your achievements, what means the most to you?

“All my achievements are important to me, but the one that still moves me the most was winning the 2018 Para World Sailing Championships in Sheboygan, USA in the women’s Hansa 303. This achievement meant not only victory in the sport but in my personal life – the fights I had to face to get where I am today. In that moment, I knew that what I had faced had been worth it.”

What do you consider your greatest strength?

“The courage to face challenges.”

What is your biggest weakness?

“I lack patience with some things.”

What would it mean to you if sailing were reinstated as a Paralympic sport?

“Every athlete’s dream is to participate in the Paralympic Games, and if the sport of sailing returns to the Games for me it would mean the realisation of a dream I’ve had since the moment I joined the sport of sailing.”

Is there an athlete you would like to know more about? Send an email to para.worldsailing@sailing.org and let us know.