PORTUGUESE SPORTSMENBy Berke Kurucuk

Her name is Vanessa Fernandes. She was born 14 September 1985. She is a Portuguese athlete and a triathlon European and World champion.

VANESSA FERNANDES

• In 1999, Vanessa started to triathlon by her father Venceslau Fernandes, an old professional cyclist. She ran for her local triathlon club and then for Belenenses where she became world champion of under-23. Vanessa participated at the Olympic Games for the first time in 2004. On the second Olympic triathlon competition she finished in eighth place.

In June 2006, she won the International Triathlon Union World Cup, ranking number one in the world. Later that year, Fernandes was awarded the "Best Female Athlete of the Year" prize from CNID. In 2008, she won her 5th Elite European Championships title, at home in Lisbon.

CRISTIANO RONALDO

CRISTIANO RONALDOCristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Real Madrid. Ronaldo is the most expensive footballer in history after a transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid.He is also the captain of Portuguese national team.

Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha.He played there two years before moving to C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Sporting Lisbon. Ronaldo caught the attention of Manchester United and signed for €15 million in 2003.

"I have nothing but praise for the boy. He is easily the best player in the world. He is better than Kaká and better than Messi. He is streets ahead of them all. His contribution as a goal threat is unbelievable. His stats are incredible. Strikes at goal, attempts on goal, raids into the penalty box, headers. It is all there. Absolutely astounding."

Alex Ferguson, Ronaldo's manager at Manchester United in July 2009.

In 2008, Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or.He placed second in the Ballon d'Or in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012. He awarded the European Golden Shoe 2008 and 2011. In 2008, he won three trophies: the FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, Onze d'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year. Ronaldo was the winner of the FIFA Puskás Award in 2009.

His awards

EMANUEL SILVA

Emanuel Silva is a Portuguese sprint canoer. He was born in Braga. He is Portugal's most successful kayak sprinter since the 1980s.

In 2003 he starred at the world junior championships in Komatsu, Japan by winning the K1 500 m gold medal. Then, he raced in his first senior world championships, in USA, placing sixteenth in the K-1 1000 m.

In 2004 he reached his first senior final, finishing in seventh place at the European championships in Poznań, Poland. Still only eighteen years old, he was the second-youngest competitor in the blue riband K-1 1000 m event at the Athens Olympics and he finished in seventh place.

Silva was not as successful at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as he was eliminated in the semifinals of both the K-1 500 m and the K-1 1000 m event.

Silva is now a member of the Clube Náutico de Prado.

NELSON EVORA

Nelson Évora is a Portuguese athlete. He is an old triple jump olympic and world champion. Évora currently run for Portuguese club Benfica. He represented Cape Verde until 2002 when he got Portuguese citizenship.

He was born in Côte d'Ivoire. Nelson and his family moved to Portugal when he was five years old.

He competed in the triple jump in the 2004 Olympics and finished sixth at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He finished fourth in the triple jump final and sixth in the long jump final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. At the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships he came in fifth place.

On 27 August 2007, he was the triple jump World champion at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, in Osaka. On March 2008, he placed third in the triple jump competition at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, in Valencia.

On 2008, He took an Olympic gold medal in Bejing.