Keila da Silva Costa (born 6 February 1983) is a Brazilian

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

er. She has competed in three Olympic Games,

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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 ...

and

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, and has reached the final round both there and in

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and World Indoor Championships. She is the South American record holder in triple jump with 14.58 metres, and has 6.88 metres in the long jump. Both results were achieved in 2007.

Early career

She was born in Abreu e Lima near

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

, and took up athletics at the age of nine. It was not the easiest of things to become an international athlete, as the city of Abreu e Lima did not sport a rubber track; also she came from a "humble family". As a junior athlete she competed in two World Junior Championships. At the 2000 edition in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

she finished eleventh in the triple jump. Her personal best at the time was 13.23 metres. In 2001, she broke the 14-metre barrier as she improved to 14.00 metres at a meet in

São Caetano do Sul São Caetano do Sul (; " Saint Cajetan of the South"), or simply São Caetano, is a city in São Paulo state in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 161,957 (2020 est.) in an area of 15.33 km2. It is ...

.. Retrieved on 4 April 2009. This was a new South American junior record. In 2002 the World Junior Championships were held in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. Here she finished ninth in the long jump and won the bronze medal in the triple jump. She was the first Brazilian to win a medal at the World Junior Championships. She had not improved in the latter event, but her personal best in the long jump was 6.46 metres, achieved in September 2002 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. In the following seasons, she rarely competed internationally, except for a participation at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

where she failed to reach the final. She was injured for most of 2003. By June 2005 she had improved to 6.63 metres in the long jump, and in February 2006 she improved to 14.17 metres in the triple jump. In March 2006 she competed in triple jump at the World Indoor Championships and her first international triple jump event since the 2002 World Juniors—but even though she approached her maximum level with a jump of 14.11 metres, she again failed to reach the final. In late 2006, she represented

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

(except for the United States) in long jump at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

event, finishing sixth. Maurren Higa Maggi later captured the South American triple jump record, and also dominated in national championships. Costa won her first Brazilian title in 2003. On the regional level, Costa won five medals at the South American Championships in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

International breakthrough

Her definite international breakthrough came in 2007. She improved both her personal best jumps with good margins. In May in

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

she jumped 6.88 metres, and in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

in June she jumped 14.57 metres for a continental and championship record at the

2007 South American Championships in Athletics The 2007 South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Mello in São Paulo, Brazil from 7 June to 9 June 2007. A total of 44 events were contested, of which 22 were by male and 22 by female athletes. Continu ...

. She also won the silver medal in the long jump behind Maggi. In May she had become the first South American woman to break the 15-metre-barrier. However, her 15.10 m jump in

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a city and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest city in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the si ...

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had a tail wind of 2.7 m/second, and thus could not be accepted. When jumping 14.57, she established a new South American record. At the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major Americas, continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of ...

she won two silver medals, and at the 2007 World Championships in August she finished ninth in the

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...

and seventh in the long jump competition. At the World Athletics Final towards the end of the season, she finished sixth in the triple and fifth in the long jump. In 2008, she did not compete in the triple jump at all. In the long jump, though, she finished seventh at the World Indoor Championships and eleventh at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

. Her season's best was 6.79 metres, achieved in June in São Paulo. Her South American record still stands. In the 2009 season, she won the Troféu Brasil Caixa de Atletismo with a season's best of 6.79 m, putting an end to rival

Maurren Maggi Maurren Higa Maggi (born 25 June 1976) is a Brazilian retired track and field athlete and Olympic gold medallist om the long jump. She is the South American record holder in the 100 metres hurdles and long jump, with 12.71 seconds and 7.26 met ...

's decade-long dominance of the championships. She became the continental long jump champion for a second time at the

2009 South American Championships in Athletics The 2009 South American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''2009 Campeonatos Sudamericanos'') was the forty sixth edition of the tournament and was held between 19 and 21 June in Lima, Peru. Brazil dominated the tournament, easily finishing w ...

. The long jump at the 2009 Lusophony Games was a head-to-head with Portugal's Naide Gomes and Costa took the silver medal, three centimetres back with a mark of 6.71 m. Her focus turned to the

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

, but she failed to record a mark in her three attempts in the long jump final. She closed the season with a seventh-place finish at the

2009 IAAF World Athletics Final The 7th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece on September 12 and September 13, 2009. The competition represented the culmination of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour, a selection of athletics m ...

. She opened 2010 with her first podium finish on the global stage: competing in the long jump at the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation Th ...

, she twice jumped 6.63 m to secure the bronze medal behind

Brittney Reese Brittney Davon Reese (born September 9, 1986) is a retired American long jumper, Olympic gold medalist, and a seven-time world champion. Reese is the indoor American record holder in the long jump with a distance of 7.23 meters. Personal life Bo ...

and Gomes. She became a double Brazilian champion later that year with victories in both the long jump and triple jump at the Troféu Brasil Caixa de Atletismo.

Personal life

Costa has a relationship with

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

nian Olympic champion in the long jump,

Irving Saladino Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda (born January 23, 1983) is a Panamanian former long jumper. He was Olympic champion, having won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and remains Panama's first and only Olympic gold medalist. He was world champion in the ...

. The two met at the 2004 Olympic Games. Costa stands tall, and weighs approximately .

Notes

Note that this is sometimes given, wrongly, as being a South American record. The best South American result at the time belonged to Luciana dos Santos, who jumped 14.01 metres in 2000.

Personal bests

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Keila 1983 births Living people Brazilian female long jumpers Brazilian female triple jumpers Olympic athletes for Brazil Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games athletes for Brazil Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil Pan American Games silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Brazil South American Games gold medalists for Brazil South American Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 2002 South American Games Competitors at the 2014 South American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes from Pernambuco South American Championships in Athletics winners 21st-century Brazilian sportswomen Troféu Brasil de Atletismo winners Military World Games gold medalists for Brazil Military World Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Military World Games silver medalists for Brazil