Paulo Roberto Paula

Paulo Roberto de Almeida Paula (born 8 July 1979) is a Brazilian long-distance runner who competed in marathon races.^[6] He finished 8th in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics, 15th at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 68th at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.^[2][7] He is a member of the Cruzeiro Sport Club.

Paulo Roberto Paula

Paula at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1979-07-08) 8 July 1979 (age 46) Pacaembu, Brazil[1]
Height	170 cm (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight	55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
Country	Brazil
Sport	Athletics
Event	5000 m – marathon
Club	Cruzeiro Sport Club[2] Luasa Sports Taubaté[1][3] São Paulo FC[4]
Coached by	Dino de Aguiar Cintra Filho[1] Marco Antonio de Oliveira[2][3]
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	5000 m – 14:00.81 (2010) 10 km – 28:34 (2014) HM – 1:02:30 (2011) Marathon – 2:09:51 (2022)[5]

He began competing nationally in his teenage years. He was runner-up over 10,000 metres at the 1998 Brazilian Junior Championships with a run of 30:42.94 minutes. He began to progress in the senior ranks of the event in 2002, finishing fourth at the Brazilian Athletics Championships with a run of 28:58.03 minutes. However, he did not frequently compete at the top level over the following years.^[8]

He moved up to the half marathon distance, and in 2007 he was runner-up at the São Paulo Half Marathon with a time of 64:29 minutes. He repeated that feat in 2008 and 2009 and improved his best time to 64:26 minutes over the period. His marathon debut followed in 2011 with a run at the Amsterdam Marathon, where his finishing time of 2:13:15 hours was enough for 17th place. Two better performances in 2012 (2:11:51 at the Barcelona Marathon, then 2:10:23 for third at the Maratona di Sant'Antonio) saw him chosen for the Brazilian team for the 2012 London Olympics.^[8]

At the start of 2013, he dropped out of the Lake Biwa Marathon, but he showed a resurgence of form by winning the Maratona di Sant'Antonio in Italy – his first international victory.^[9]

In 2019, he competed in the men's marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar.^[10] He finished in 19th place.^[10]

He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[11]

Paula serves in the Brazilian Army. His twin brother Luiz Fernando is also an international long-distance runner. He tried to qualify in the marathon for the 2012 Olympics.^[2][3]