Fernando Scherer

Fernando de Queiroz Scherer (born October 6, 1974) is a Brazilian former international swimmer.

In 1992, he began to achieve national prominence, winning the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle in the Brazil Trophy.

That day, his friends created a nickname "Xuxa", by which Scherer became widely known because his blond hair resembled that of a children's television presenter with the same name.

Scherer won his first major title at the inaugural 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships in Palma de Mallorca, where he won the 100-meter freestyle.

At the Brazilian short course championship, the Jose Finkel Trophy in Santos on July 7, 1993, the Brazilian team comprising Fernando Scherer, Teófilo Ferreira, José Carlos Souza and Gustavo Borges, broke the world record in the 4×100-meter freestyle with a time of 3:13.97—three centiseconds better than the Swedish team record of 3:14.00 from March 19, 1989.

On December 5, Brazil again broke the world record, with the same team, with a time of 3:12.11.

This mark was achieved at the 1993 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), in Palma de Mallorca, where Scherer won his first major titles: the gold in the 100-meter freestyle and in the 4×100-meter freestyle, at 19 years of age and after five years of competitive swimming experience.

With this, Scherer was elected as the revelation athlete of Brazil.

He also finished eighth in the 50-meter freestyle.

Scherer participated in the 1994 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, where he won the bronze in the 4×100-meter freestyle—along with Teófilo Ferreira, André Teixeira and Gustavo Borges.

He also came close to the world record in the 100-meter freestyle of 46.74 seconds set by Popov in 1994.

Scherer is nicknamed Xuxa in his native country, and he became Brazil's Sportsman of The Year in 1995 after winning one gold and one silver medal at the 1995 FINA Short Course World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.

Scherer was involved in the organization Cansei.

In 1995, Scherer signed with Flamengo.

He was the first swimmer with signed contract.

In March, he competed at the 1995 Pan American Games in Argentina, where he became champion of the 50-meter freestyle, two silver medals in 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×200-meter freestyle, and bronze in the 100-meter freestyle.

He was named the Brazilian Athlete of the Year in 1995, after winning two gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle at the 1995 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Rio de Janeiro.

In the 4×100-meter freestyle, he opened with a time of 47.74 seconds in the heats and a time of 47.63 seconds in the final—a South American and Championship record.

He also won a silver medal in the 50-meter freestyle.

He won the bronze medal in the 50-meter freestyle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and another bronze medal four years later in Sydney with the Brazilian relay team in the 4×100-meter freestyle.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics, in Atlanta, Scherer earned a bronze medal in the 50-metre freestyle, came 5th in the 100-metre freestyle and 4th in the 4×100-metre freestyle.

1997 was a bad year for Scherer.

He could not swim competitively for six months after experiencing problems in his left shoulder and both knees caused after the Olympics.

He competed in the 1997 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), where he finished 13th in the 100-meter freestyle, and 20th in the 50-meter freestyle.

In 1998, Scherer moved to Coral Springs, Florida.

He swam at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships, in Perth, Australia, where he finished eighth in the 50-meter freestyle, 17th in the 100-meter freestyle and sixth in the 4×100-meter freestyle.

At the end of 1998, Scherer broke the third consecutive world record by a Brazilian relay team in the 4×100-meter freestyle on short course.

He trained at The Race Club, a swimming club founded by Olympic swimmers Gary Hall, Jr. and his father, Gary Hall, Sr. as a training group for elite swimmers in preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

On December 20, shortly after the end of Jose Finkel Trophy, the team of Scherer, Carlos Jayme, Alexandre Massura and Gustavo Borges, in order, fell the pool at Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama and recorded a time of 3:10.45; a record which would be broken in 2000 by the Swedish team.

In this competition, Scherer had also broken the short-course South American records in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 21.44 seconds, the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 47.17 seconds, and the Brazilian record in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 53.13 seconds.

In the 50-meter freestyle, Scherer was 0.13 seconds slower than Mark Foster's world record of 21.31 seconds, obtained on December 13.

He also broke the 100-metre freestyle record with a time of 48.69 seconds, which was unbroken until 2006, also by Cielo.

With that, Scherer attained first place in the world rankings in both events; he was awarded the title of "World's Best" by Swimworld magazine, and for the second time the best Brazilian athlete, by COB.

At this time, the world record for the 50-meter freestyle was 21.81 seconds, set by Tom Jager; the 100-meter freestyle world record was 48.21 seconds, set by Alexander Popov.

In August in New York City, at the Goodwill Games, Scherer broke the South American record for the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.18 seconds, that would only be broken in 2007 by César Cielo.

In 2009, he took part in the second season of a reality television program called A Fazenda, where one of his fellow contestants was his future wife, the actress and dancer Sheila Mello.

Scherer and Mello married on June 24, 2010, in São Paulo.

Scherer began swimming when he was a child to help improve his respiratory problems.

When he was 14, he participated in his first competitions and trained at the Doze de Agosto club.

Scherer also finished 10th in the 50-meter freestyle and 14th in the 100-meter freestyle.