Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos (born 3 June 2000)[3] is a Brazilian athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. He is a bronze medalist at the 2020 Olympic Games, the 2022 World Champion and the third fastest athlete in the history of the event, in addition to being a gold medalist in the 2019 Pan American Games. Dos Santos is currently the South American and Pan American record holder in the competition.
Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos was born on 3 June 2000 in São Joaquim da Barra, Brazil to father Gerson and mother Sueli.[4][5] Alison is the last of four children and has three older sisters: Drieli, Andrieli, and Anieli.[6] His parents separated later.[7][8]
As a 10-month-old, a domestic accident left him with third-degree oil burns on his head and characteristic scars.[9] While he was at his grandmother Geni's house one day, she warmed up a pan of hot oil to fry fish. He accidentally struck the handle of the pan and it flipped over, spilling hot oil all over him. His grandmother tried to stop him but was also hurt in the process. The oil got on her hands and she suffered burns as well. They both went to the hospital where he was hospitalised for four months at the Barretos Cancer Hospital. He still has visible scars on his forehead, scalp, face, chest, and left arm from the incident. He wears a cap or hat on his head during training to protect the area from the sun.[7][8][10][11]
Alison was shy growing up, partly due to his scars, and stayed in his room alone until he started to become involved in sports.[4][8][12] As a child, he took a chance on judo. He practised from age 6 to 14.[10] It was during this period that he earned the nickname Piu, but soon left the mat for athletics.[13] Although he loved judo, the high cost associated with each training session caused him to abandon it in favour of athletics.
His family struggled to justify the amount of money they spent on judo which offered little potential for return. They were not wealthy, however, they saw an opportunity in athletics to make money, go to nationals, and win medals. Alison began athletics in 2013 at Pedro Badran State Technical School (ETEC) and was coached by Ana Fidélis.[11][12] Within months, he no longer did athletics out of a financial need but because he truly enjoyed it and even made friends throughout the city, states, and country.[10] At the age of 16, he was already competing among adults.[13]
At just 19 years old, he participated in the 2019 Pan American Games, held in Lima, Peru, where he won the 400m hurdles event, breaking his personal record, and the South American under-20 record, with the time of 48.45. It was the fourth best time in the world at the moment, and with that, Dos Santos qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He had already won gold in the same event, at the 2019 Summer Universiade, weeks before.[14]
In September 2019, Dos Santos went to the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he won the 400m hurdles semifinal in 48.35, breaking his personal record again and going to the final with the second best overall time. The last time a Brazilian had reached the final of this event in the Worlds was with Eronilde de Araújo, in 1999. In the final, he broke his personal record again, finishing in seventh place with a time of 48.28. He was just 0.25s from the bronze medalist.[15][16]
2021
In April 2021, he broke his own Brazilian record again with a time of 48.15 in Des Moines, USA. On 9 May 2021, he broke the South American record that belonged since 2005 to Panama's athlete Bayano Kamani (47.84). Dos Santos obtained the 47.68 mark in the Mt.Sac stage of the Continental Athletics Tour in California (USA). On 28 May 2021, he again broke the South American record with a time of 47.57 in Doha, Qatar, participating in the Diamond League. This time placed Alison as third in the world ranking. He even topped the list in April. The time of 47.57 already placed him as 22nd best runner in the race of all time.[17][18] On 1 July 2021, in the Oslo stage of the Diamond League, he again lowered his own South American record, with a time of 47.38. This time placed him, at the moment, as the 15th-best runner in the history of the race.[19] He improved this record with 47.34, three days later, winning in Stockholm Diamond League stage.[20]
Dos Santos celebrating his Olympic bronze medal.
At the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Alison qualified for the final of the 400 metres hurdles, breaking the South American record with a time of 47.31.[21] In the final, he got the bronze medal, breaking the South American record again by a large margin, with a time of 46.72 (he lowered his time by 0.6 seconds). Both he, Warholm and Benjamin surprisingly lowered their times: Warholm lowered the world record by almost 0.8 seconds (45.94), and Benjamin beat the Americas' record also by 0.8 seconds (46.17). The event was the strongest in 400m hurdles history, with the three Olympic medalists getting the three best times in the history of the event, all beating Kevin Young's old world record (which had lasted almost 30 years and had only fallen a month before the Olympics). Alison became the 3rd best in the history of the race at just 21 years old.[22][23][24]
2022
In April 2022, he made the second best Brazilian mark in history in the 400m, 44.54, an event that is not his specialty and what gave him the index to qualify for the Eugene World Championship (he would be a bronze medalist in the 400m with this mark, in this championship).[25] In May 2022 he won a gold medal in the Doha stage of the Diamond League with a time of 47.24, defeating Rai Benjamin.[26] In June 2022 he won a gold medal in the Stockholm stage of the Diamond League with a time of 46.80.[27]
On 19 July 2022, in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, he broke the South American record again and the World Championship record in the 400 metres hurdles with a time of 46.29, becoming world champion, defeating Warholm and Benjamin. It was the first men's gold in the history of Brazil in the World Athletics Championships, and he became only the second Brazilian in history to be the world champion in outdoor athletics. The first was the pole vaulter Fabiana Murer eleven years earlier in Daegu, South Korea. Dos Santos was 0.13s from beating Benjamin's Americas record and 0.36s from beating Warholm's world record.[28][29][30][31][32] At the Diamond Race final in Zürich in September, he became the Diamond League champion in his specialist event.[3]
2023
On 14 February 2023, he underwent knee surgery after a serious injury. He developed a tear in the meniscus of his right knee that could only be corrected by operating.[33][34] His recovery period was expected to last between 8 and 12 weeks.[35][36] He came back on 16 July 2023, with his first race of the season being the Silesia stage of the Diamond League. He ran the 400m and finished in third place with a time of 44.73.[37][38] Close to a week after, he improved upon this when he ran the 400m hurdles in the Monaco stage of the Diamond League and finished in second place on 21 July 2023. Next, the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary followed in August. He won his 400 metres hurdles heat in 48.12 to qualify for the semifinal where he finished second with a time of 47.38. During the final, he hit two barriers (in the eighth and tenth) and finished in fifth place with a time of 48.10.[39] He asked to be exempt from the 2023 Pan American Games so as not to jeopardize his preparation for the Olympics.[40]
2024
On May 10, at the Doha Stage of the 2024 Diamond League, he crossed the finish line with a time of 46.86 and took 1st place, breaking the league record.[41]
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