Manuel Damião

He is a member of the Maratona Clube de Portugal and works as a full-time fire fighter in Lisbon[1] Born in Beja,[1] he started out as a middle-distance runner and ran in the 1500 metres at the 1995 European Youth Olympic Festival and the 1997 European Athletics Junior Championships.

[6] He appeared three more times in the World Cross Country short race in 2004–2006, but did not feature in the top forty.

[11] Following the abolition of the short race from the cross country championships, he began to focus on longer distances on grass.

[13] He was a regular pick for Portuguese team for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 2007 to 2012, with his best performance being 47th place in 2011.

He secured the third national title of his career in 2012 by becoming the long course Portuguese champion at the Almond Blossom Cross Country (finishing third overall in the race).