Vera Lúcia Montez dos Santos (born 3 December 1981 in Santarém

Santarém

-In Portugal:* Santarém District, a district in Portugal* Santarém Municipality, a municipality in that district* Santarém, Portugal the seat of the above district* Roman Catholic Diocese of Santarém, Portugal-Other:* Santarém cheese, a Portuguese goat cheese...

, Lezíria do Tejo

Lezíria do Tejo

Lezíria do Tejo is a Portuguese NUTS III subregion, part of NUTS II Alentejo Region.Lezíria do Tejo belonging to Lisboa e Vale do Tejo Region for planning, but to Lisbon Region in the NUTS scheme, has its main urban center in the city of Santarém and almost coincides with the traditional Ribatejo...

) is a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 race walker

Race walking

Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance athletic event. Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times...

.

She began racing at the senior international level in 2002, taking part in the 2002 European Athletics Championships. Her first major medal was a silver at the 2003 European Athletics U23 Championships

2003 European Athletics U23 Championships

The 2003 European Athletics U23 Championships was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 17–20 July 2003.- Men's :-Women's:-Medals table:-References:* . GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2009-08-05.*...

 and she went on to compete at that year's World Championships in Athletics. Santos finished 15th at the 2005 World Championships

2005 World Championships in Athletics

The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...

 but managed a silver at the 2005 Summer Universiade

2005 Summer Universiade

The 2005 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXIII Summer Universiade, took place in İzmir, Turkey.-Emblem:The emblem is the letter “U”, inspired by the bird’s-eye view of the Gulf of İzmir.This shape has perfectly fit the letter “U” of Universiade,...

. She won the bronze at the 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup

2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup

The 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 10 and 11 May 2008 in the streets of Cheboksary, Chuvashia, Russia.-Medallists:-Men's 20 km:-Men's 50 km:-Women's 20 km:-References:* - IAAF.org* - IAAF.org...

 and then went on to finish ninth in a personal best time at the 2008 Beijing Olympics later that year. She put in the highest ranking performance at the 2009 World Championships

2009 World Championships in Athletics

The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....

, taking fifth place.

Santos won her first national racewalking title in 2005 and became a two-time national champion in 2010 with a win at the Meeting de Marcha Atlética da Cidade de Olhao. She took another victory on home turf soon after, winning the Grande Premio Internacional en Marcha Atletica in Rio Maior

Rio Maior

Rio Maior is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 272.8 km² and a total population of 21,621 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 14 parishes, and is located in the Santarém District.The present Mayor is Isaura Morais, elected by the PSD....

. She led the race throughout, holding off China's Li Yanfei, and after the win she began altitude training

Altitude training

Altitude training is the practice by some endurance athletes of training for several weeks at high altitude, preferably over above sea level, though more commonly at intermediate altitudes due to the shortage of suitable high-altitude locations...

 to prepare for the upcoming World Race Walking Cup. She took her third circuit win of the year at the Coppa Città di Sesto San Giovanni.

Her personal best performance came at the 2008 Olympic Games, where her time of 1:28:14 gave her a ninth place finish.

Achievements

Representing
2000	European Race Walking Cup European Race Walking Cup The European Race Walking Cup is a race walking event established in 1996, and organised by the European Athletic Association. In 1996, the team scores were calculated by aggregating the points awarded to the first three finishers...	Eisenhüttenstadt Eisenhüttenstadt Eisenhüttenstadt is a town in the Oder-Spree district of Brandenburg, Germany at the border with Poland. The town was founded in 1950 alongside a new steel mill as a socialist model city and has a population of 32,214... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	8th	10 km 2000 European Race Walking Cup The third edition of the European Race Walking Cup took place in the German city of Eisenhüttenstadt on Saturday June 17 and Sunday June 18, 2000.-Abbreviations:*All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds-20 km walk:*Held on Saturday June 17, 2000....	Junior race
	World Junior Championships 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2000 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Santiago, Chile.-Men:-Women:-Medals table:...	Santiago, Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...	5th	10,000 m
2002	European Championships	Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	17th	20 km
2003	European U23 Championships 2003 European Athletics U23 Championships The 2003 European Athletics U23 Championships was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 17–20 July 2003.- Men's :-Women's:-Medals table:-References:* . GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2009-08-05.*...	Bydgoszcz, Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...	2nd	20 km
	World Championships 2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:...	Paris, France	15th	20 km
2005	World Championships 2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...	Helsinki, Finland	15th	20 km
	Universiade Athletics at the 2005 Summer Universiade The athletics competition in the 2005 Summer Universiade was held on the İzmir Atatürk Stadyumu in İzmir, Turkey, between 15 August and 20 August 2005.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-References:* - GBR Athletics* - GBR Athletics* - FIBU...	İzmir, Turkey	2nd	20 km
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg Gothenburg Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area... , Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....	8th	20 km
2007	World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...	Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... , Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	11th	20 km
2008	World Race Walking Cup 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 10 and 11 May 2008 in the streets of Cheboksary, Chuvashia, Russia.-Medallists:-Men's 20 km:-Men's 50 km:-Women's 20 km:-References:* - IAAF.org* - IAAF.org...	Cheboksary Cheboksary -Twin towns/sister cities:Cheboksary is twinned with: Eger in Hungary Antalya in Turkey Santa Clara in CubaAlso Partnerships are shown with: Rundu in Namibia -External links:****... , Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...	3rd	20 km
	Olympic Games 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , China	9th	20 km
2009	European Race Walking Cup 2009 European Race Walking Cup The 8th edition of the European Race Walking Cup took place in the French city of Metz on Sunday May 24, 2009.-Timetable:*All times are Central European Time -Abbreviations:*All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds-20 km walk:...	Metz, France	—	20 km	DSQ
	World Championships 2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....	Berlin, Germany	5th	20 km 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 20 kilometres walk The Women's 20 km Walk event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held throughout the city of Berlin on August 16, beginning and ending at the Brandenburg Gate....
2010	European Championships	Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...	6th	20 km 2010 European Athletics Championships – Women's 20 kilometres walk The women's 20 kilometres walk at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held on the streets of Barcelona on 28 July.-Medalists:-Records:-Schedule:-Final:-References:*...

External links

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