Gabriela Guimaraes is a Brazilian professional indoor volleyball player, who plays as an outside spiker and won a silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She was awarded MVP at the 2021/2022 Champions League, and 2021 South American Championships, as well as the Best outside hitter at the 2022/2023 Club World Championship. Gabi Guimaraes is also a silver medalist at the 2022 Poland/Netherlands World Championships, 2017 Japan World Grand Champions Cup, as well as three times runner-up at Nations League in 2019 Nanjing, 2021 Rimini, and 2022 Ankara. She is also three times World Grand Prix and three times South American Championship champion with the Brazilian national team.
At the club level, Gabriela Guimaraes won the Champions League twice, South American Club Championship five times, and Club World Championship once.
Gabriela Guimaraes, or also known as Gabi Guimaraes, was born on May 19, 1994, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. She started playing volleyball as a kid and quickly proved her talent, becoming one of the most prospective Brazilian female volleyball players.
Gabriela Guimaraes made her professional debut in 2009 for the volleyball club Mackenzie/Cia do Terno to play in the Brazilian Superliga. Her team finished 11th in the standings, but she was called for the Brazilian U18 national volleyball team, winning the gold at the South American Championship U18 2010. During the next season, her club finished 9th in the Brazilian Superliga but won the local Brazilian Superliga Mineiro Championship. With the junior national volleyball team, she played at World Championships U18 2011 but remained 6th. In the 2011/2012 season, Gabi Guimaraes continue playing for Mackenzie/Cia, finishing 7th at the Brazilian Superliga and 2nd at the Mineiro Championship. However, she won the gold at the South American Championship U20 2012 and silver at Pan-American Cup U23 2012. She was also called for the Brazilian senior national volleyball team and won the silver at Pan American Cup 2012 and World Grand Prix 2012.
In 2012, Gabriela Guimaraes signed with the runner-up at the Brazilian Superliga – Unilever Volei, which later was renamed to Rexona-Sesc and Sesc-RJ. She stayed with the club for six seasons, winning plenty of awards and tournaments. Already in her maiden 2012/2013 season with the club, Unilever Volei won the Brazilian Superliga, South American Club Championship, and Carioca Championship. Moreover, during the season, Gabriela Guimaraes won the gold at South American Championships and World Grand Prix with the senior national team, as well as the bronze at the World Championships U20 2013 with the junior national team. During the next five seasons, she won the Brazilian Superliga four times (2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017), Carioca Championship four times (2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2017/2018), Brazilian Cup twice (2015/2016, 2016/2017), Brazilian Supercup three times (2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018), South American Club Championship (2015/2016). she proved to be one of the best Brazilian volleyball players, winning the MVP award at the South American Club Championship 2016/2017, Best outside hitter at the South American Club Championship 2014/2015 and 2015/2016.
Meanwhile, internationally, Gabriela Guimaraes won the gold at the South American Championships 2015, silver at the USA Volleyball Cup 2014 and FIVB Grand Champions Cup 2017, as well as the bronze World Championships 2014. With the Brazilian national team, she also won the gold at the World Grand Prix in 2014, and 2016, and played at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
In 2018, Gabi Guimaraes signed with the reigning South American Club champion Itambe/Minas. In her only season with the club, she made a treble, winning the Brazilian Superliga, and Brazilian Cup, and defending the title at the South American Club Championship. Itambe/Minas also won Mineiro Championship and were the runner-up at the Club World Championship. She won the silver at the Volleyball Nations League 2019 with the Brazilian national team.
In 2019, Gabriela Guimaraes moved to Turkey and signed with VakıfBank, where she plays still. Already in the 2020/2021 season, she won the Turkiye Kadinlar Voleybol Ligi and Turkish Cup but also was the runner-up at the Champions League. In the next two seasons, her club won twice the Champions League, once the Club World Championship (and once finished second), once the Turkiye Kadinlar Voleybol Ligi, and twice the Turkish Cup. She was awarded Best outside hitter and MVP at Champions League 2021/22
Internationally, Gabi Guimaraes won the silver at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, gold at the South American Championships 2021, where was awarded MVP, and silver at the World Championships 2022 and the Volleyball Nations League 2021 and 2022.
Gabriela Guimaraes photos
