MATERA Douglas

Civil Engineering - Pontifical Catholic University [PUC], Rio de Janeiro, BRA

English, Portuguese

Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama [Rio de Janeiro, BRA]

His brother Thomaz is a Para swimmer who represented Brazil at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (cpb.org.br, 07 May 2017)

He began swimming as a boy, and he competed in able-bodied swimming until 2009. In 2017 he began competing in Para swimming. (cpb.org.br, 01 Jun 2019)

At age 16 he quit the sport to focus on his studies in civil engineering, but ended up returning to the pool while at university. "I was just expecting to swim during my university holidays but my brother [Thomaz Matera] encouraged me to continue after he competed at the [2016] Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The holidays finished and I kept on swimming." (cpb.org.br, 07 May 2017)