Leila Gomes de Barros (born 30 September 1971) is a Brazilian politician and former

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. She often played as opposite hitter and attacker. She was a member of the Brazilian squad that had great success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, winning the 1996 and 1998 editions of the

FIVB World Grand Prix The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was an annual women's volleyball competition created in 1993. The men's version of the competition was called FIVB Volleyball World League, World League. This event should not be confused with the other intern ...

and being rated the Most Valuable Player in each win.

Volleyball career

Barros started competing in volleyball at the age of fifteen. She switched to

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

in July 2001, but returned to the indoor courts in 2003 to help the

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 ...

to qualify for the

2004 Summer Olympics 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 ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. Barros finished in second place in the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and 2003 FIVB World Cup, and won third place in 1999 FIVB World Cup. She also won a silver medal in the 1994 FIVB World Championship. In the Olympics, her Brazilian team won the bronze medal in 1996 and 2000. She has also posed in several magazines, and was one of the most popular players when the Brazilian volleyball team came to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Political career

In October 2018, Barros became the first woman to represent the

Federal District A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...

of Brazil in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

References

External links

*
Volleybox.net profile
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Barros, Leila 1971 births Living people Members of the Federal Senate (Brazil) Democratic Labour Party (Brazil) politicians Brazilian women's volleyball players Brazilian women's beach volleyball players Volleyball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Brazil Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in volleyball Sportspeople from the Federal District (Brazil) Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games gold medalists in volleyball Opposite hitters Volleyball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Brazilian sportsperson-politicians