Cristina Gonçalves

Cristina Gonçalves

File:Cristina Gonçalves 09 2024.jpg Gonçalves in 2024
Personal information
National team	Portugal
Born	(1977-09-15) September 15, 1977 Lisbon, Portugal
Sport
Country	Portugal
Sport	Boccia
Disability	Cerebral palsy
Disability class	BC2
Team	APCL
Coached by	Rosa Carvalho
Medal record Boccia Representing Portugal Paralympic Games Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Team BC1-2 Gold medal – first place 2024 Paris Individual BC2 Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing Team BC1-2 Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team BC1-2

Cristina Gonçalves (born 15 September 1977) is a Portuguese boccia player. She has competed for her country at several Summer Paralympic Games and has won four medals, including two gold medals. She has cerebral palsy since contracting meningitis when she was 11 months old.

Career

Cristina Gonçalves was born on 15 September 1977 in Lisbon, Portugal. When she was 11 months old, she contracted meningitis resulting in cerebral palsy. She began competing nationally in boccia in 1998, having taken up the sport at the age of 14. She is classified as BC2. Gonçalves' first overall victory came in 2003 in the boccia World Cup in New Zealand. She attended her first Summer Paralympics in 2004 in Athens, Greece, where she won a gold medal as part of the team BC1-2 competition with a victory over New Zealand. She continued to compete at successive Paralympic Games, where she won a silver medal in the team event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China, but failed to win a medal at the 2012 Games in London, England. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, she was the only female player on the mixed boccia team. They qualified out of the group stage following a loss to Argentina followed by victories over Slovakia and Brazil. They were beaten 8-5 by Japan in the semi-final, resulting in a rematch against Argentina in the bronze medal match. Despite the earlier 1–7 loss, they defeated Argentina 6–2 to win the bronze medal.