Carlos Almeida

Who is Carlos Almeida?

Carlos Fernandes Esteves de Almeida is a Portuguese swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a two-time Olympian, a 2011 Big East Conference champion, and a current Portuguese record holder in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke. Almeida is a resident athlete for Amadora Swimming Club in Lisbon, and is coached and trained by Filipe Coelho.

Almeida made his official debut at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he competed in the men's 200 m breaststroke. He cleared a FINA B-cut of 2:15.00 from the Dutch Open in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Almeida blasted a 2:15 barrier and a new Portuguese record of 2:13.34 to top the second heat, but he finished only in thirty-second overall from the preliminaries.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Almeida qualified for the men's 100 m breaststroke by establishing a Portuguese record and achieving a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:01.19 from the European Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He challenged seven other swimmers on the third heat, including fellow two-time Olympian Martin Liivamägi of Estonia. He raced to third place by two tenths of a second behind Greece's Panagiotis Samilidis in 1:01.40.