Rildene Firmino

Personal information
Born	1974 Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Height	1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Sport
Country	Brazil
Sport	Paralympic swimming
Disability	Paraplegia
Disability class	S5, SB3, SM4
Medal record Paralympic swimming Representing  Brazil World Championships 2002 Mar del Plata 4x50m medley relay 20pts 2010 Eindhoven 150m individual medley Parapan American Games 2003 Mar del Plata 50m backstroke S5 2003 Mar del Plata 150m individual medley SM4 2003 Mar del Plata 50m breaststroke SB3 2007 Rio de Janeiro 150m individual medley SM4 2007 Rio de Janeiro 50m breaststroke SB3 2007 Rio de Janeiro 50m backstroke S5 2015 Toronto 50m breaststroke SB3 2015 Toronto 150m individual medley SM4

Rildene Fonseca Firmino (born 1974) is a retired Brazilian Paralympic swimmer who competed at international elite competitions, she is a double Parapan American Games champion and a two-time World bronze medalist.^[1][2]

Disability

Firmino and her cousin Ivanildo Fonseca, both aged six at the time, were involved in a shooting incident. Fonseca got a hold of Firmino's grandfather's .38 caliber revolver and was play shooting the gun with Firmino, the gun had a single bullet in the drum and Firmino was shot in the T11 vertebra and it exited her right lung. Her injuries were so severe that she had near-fatal lung and liver complications and spent three days recovering in an intensive care unit at a nearby hospital. She was left with life-changing injuries and was paraplegic for the rest of her life.^[3]

References