Daiane Dos Santos Bio - Biography

Name Daiane Dos Santos
Height 4'9
Naionality Brazilian
Date of Birth 10 February 1983,
Place of Birth Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Famous for
Daiane Garcia dos Santos, usually known as Daiane dos Santos (born on February 10, 1983 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul), is Brazil's most successful ever female gymnast. She has a floor skill named after her called Dos Santos (Double Arabian Piked).

At the comparatively late age of 20, she won the world title on floor in the 2003 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Anaheim, USA. The floor is her specialty apparatus. Renowned for her difficult tumbling, Dos Santos is unusual in gymnastics because she did not take up the sport until the age of 11.

Dos Santos most famous routine's music is called "Brasileirinho" (by Waldir Azevedo) which she used for major achievements during 2004/2005 season.

She represented Brazil in the 2004 Summer Olympics and qualified to the floor final here, where she debuted the Dos Santos II, a double Arabian in layout position. No other woman has performed it, but sadly for Daiane she stepped out of the floor area whilst doing so, placing fifth.

Dos Santos came back in December 2004 to become the World Cup floor champion, beating Cătălina Ponor and Cheng Fei into 2nd and 3rd place. She attempted to defend her World Championship title in 2005 in Melbourne, but a fall in the finals took her out of the medals and left the way clear for Alicia Sacramone of the USA. Daiane finished 7th and said goodbye for Brasileirinho's winning routine.

In 2006, Dos Santos with a brand new routine (music "Isto Aqui O Que É?" by Ary Barroso) won first gold medal under the new Artistic Gymnastics' score system Code of Points in a Moscow's leg of FIG's World Cup.

Daiane dos Santos decided to attend the 2006 World Championship, but she confirmed that she wouldn't use her Dos Santos II for a while. She placed 4th after minimal problems on her tumblings and new requirements for this new score system.

Dos Santos qualified for Brazil's World Cup Final 2005/2006 on Floor Exercise. She was still #1 at Floor's World Ranking. With some major absences (US and Romenian teams) Brazilians increased their chances for better places which became real by the end of the competition.

Daiane started her participation on Uneven Bars placing #7. Next day, the Floor Exercise Final, she had her best chance. Despite strong competitors like Fei Cheng and Elena Zamolodchikova, Dos Santos was inspired by her home country's audience and added a new move (full-twisting double layout) on her routine to reach a high score. It was an amazing moment for her that made powerful tumblings with difficult jumps (Dos Santos and Double Layout). Everything worked so well and she achieved her best score ever under new system (15.600). Although Fei Cheng had a superb routine, she fell on her usual double twisting double back somersault which caused her to finish fifth. With perhaps the most difficult floor exercise routine ever performed in women's artistic gymnastics, Daiane won her second consecutive Gold Medal at World Cup Final.

Brazil finished the competition with a successful and never-seen-before 6 medals (2 Golds - Diego Hypolito and Daiane dos Santos on Floor -, 2 Silvers - Danielle Hypolito on Beam and Lais Souza on Vault - and 2 Bronzes - Diego Hypolito on Vault and Lais Souza on Floor).

Now, she's going on vacation before start her hard preparation for 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro on July.

Daiane Dos Santos Photos