Ana Paula Rodrigues Henkel (born 13 February 1972), more commonly known as Ana Paula, is a Brazilian retired female

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player and journalist who represented Brazil at four

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

: in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, and in beach volleyball in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. With

Brazil women's national volleyball team The Brazil women's national volleyball team is administered by the ''Confederação Brasileira de Voleibol'' (CBV) and takes part in international volleyball competitions. With a tally of 46 international titles the Brazil women's volleyball nati ...

, she won three World Grand Prix editions and got medals in various tournaments, including the 1996 Olympics in the United States and the 1994 FIVB World Championship in Japan. On the beach, she won the

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour (known between 2003 and 2012 as the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour for sponsorship reasons) was the worldwide professional beach volleyball tour for both men and women organized by the ' (Fédération ...

in 2003 (alongside

Sandra Pires Sandra Tavares Pires Nascimento (born 16 June 1973) is a Brazilian retired beach volleyball player. She won the gold medal in the inaugural women's beach volleyball tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, partnering with Jackie Silv ...

) and 2008 (with

Shelda Bede Shelda Kelly Bruno Bede (born 1 January 1973) is a Brazilian retired beach volleyball player. Bede was born in Fortaleza. Bede won silver medals in beach volleyball at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens ...

Personal life

After retiring from volleyball in 2010, Paula moved to Los Angeles, California, where she majored in architecture at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and is now studying to get a master's degree in political science. Noted for her conservative views, she had a column in newspaper ''

O Estado de S. Paulo ''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in State of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to Berliner (format), ...

'' and joined news station

Jovem Pan Jovem Pan is the main Brazilian radio station based in São Paulo, Brazil. The network has several bureaus, 109 affiliated stations all over Brazil. Jovem Pan broadcasts through satellite digital quality sound reaching more than 25 million listen ...

. Paula has been married three times, first to basketballer Jeffty Connelly from 1994 to 1998, and then to volleyball coach Marcus Miranda, with whom she had a son. Since 2010, she has been married to attorney and retired beach volleyballer Carl Henkel. She was considering a fifth Olympic appearance in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, but retired as she was developing

panic disorder Panic disorder is a mental disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder, characterized by reoccurring unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear that may include palpitations, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath ...

and started resenting being too absent for her son.Síndrome do pânico fez Ana Paula desistir de sua quinta Olimpíada
Universo Online

References

External links

* * * *
Volleybox.net profile

UOL profile

Ana Paula Henkel's political column
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connelly, Ana Paula 1972 births Living people Brazilian women's volleyball players Brazilian women's beach volleyball players Olympic volleyball players for Brazil Olympic beach volleyball players for Brazil Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in volleyball Volleyball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Brazilian expatriates in the United States Brazilian anti-communists People from Lavras University of California, Los Angeles alumni Volleyball players from Minas Gerais Middle blockers Brazilian Roman Catholics