From triumph on the track to the ‘race’ of motherhood: eight steps on Sara Moreira’s journey
1985
Land of monasteries
It was born in the village of Roriz, in Santo Tirso, a land of cloistered monasteries. At the age of eight, she stands out when she wins a school cross country and is invited to the Roriz Athletics Club. Athletics became “more serious” in 1996, when Fernanda Ribeiro won gold at the Olympics.
2007
1st international medal
At the European Under-23 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, he won his first international medal: bronze in the 3000 meter hurdles. Later that year, she qualified for the final of the Athletics World Cup in Osaka, Japan, completing the 3000 m steeplechase in 13th place.
2008
Physiotherapy, Olympics and European silver
In the 2nd year of the Physiotherapy course, enrollment to participate in the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, is frozen, but it is not qualified for the final. The following year, he won the silver medal in the 3000 m indoor track at the European Athletics Championships in Turin, Italy.
2010
European medals
He won the bronze medal in the outdoor 5000 m at the European Championships in Barcelona (2010) and the silver medal in Helsinki (2012). He will represent Portugal in six editions of the European Cup (today, the European Team Championship), winning in the 10,000 m in 2010 and 2011 and in the 3000 m in 2015.
2011
doping case
She finds herself involved in a doping case at the Outdoor World Cup, but presents laboratory evidence to declare her innocence. Still, she is suspended for six months for taking a contaminated sports supplement.
2013
Mother and European champion
In Gothenburg, Sweden, she is, for the first time, European champion in the 3000 m indoor track. That year, and after the birth of his first son, Guilherme (from his marriage to coach Pedro Ribeiro), he took a break from his career, but returned with strength in 2014 with third place in the New York Marathon.
2016
Order of Merit
In the same year that she became champion of Europe, individual and collective, in the half-marathon of the Amsterdam European Championships, she was awarded the degree of Commander of the Order of Merit, by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, along with seven other athletes (all in athletics, except Fernando Pimenta, in canoeing).
2024
End of the race
At 39 years old, she announces the end of her athletics career and her second pregnancy. National champion 35 times and international athlete on 42 occasions, she was national cross-country runner-up several times — failing to win that title.
