Thaísa Daher de Menezes, also known as Thaísa Menezes or Thaísa Daher, is a professional volleyball player from Brazil. She won back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics in 2008 and 2012. She has won numerous Best Spiker and Best Blocker Awards and is often singled out as one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time.^[1]

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Thaísa Menezes
Personal information
Full name	Thaísa Daher de Menezes
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	(1987-05-15) May 15, 1987 (age 36) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Spike	318 cm (125 in)
Block	308 cm (121 in)
Volleyball information
Position	Middle blocker
Current club	Minas Tênis Clube
Number	6
National team
2005–2018, 2023 Brazil
Honours Women's volleyball Representing  Brazil Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Team 2012 London Team World Championship 2010 Japan Team 2014 Italy Team World Cup 2007 Japan Team World Grand Champions Cup 2009 Japan Team 2013 Japan Team World Grand Prix 2005 Sendai Team 2006 Reggio Calabria Team 2008 Yokohama Team 2014 Tokyo Team 2016 Bangkok Team 2010 Ningbo Team 2012 Ningbo Team Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Team 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team Pan-American Cup 2009 Miami 2011 Ciudad Juárez South American Championship 2007 Santiago 2009 Porto Alegre 2011 Callao 2013 Ica 2023 Recife

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Thaísa was born in the Campo Grande district, located in the western part of Rio de Janeiro. Her father is a serviceman Domingos de Menezes and her mother Monica Daher is a descendant of immigrants from Lebanon. Until the age of 13, Thaísa was engaged in swimming, but then, following the example of her brother Tiago, she switched to volleyball.

A year later, she was accepted into the youth team of the Tizhuk club, where Julio Cugna, one of the best mentors for working with young athletes, became her coach. In 2002, Thaísa was invited to the Minas team (Belo Horizonte)- one of the strongest in Brazil, with which she won her first club level medal that same season, becoming the silver medalist of the Brazilian championship. In the same 2002 (at the age of 15), Thaísa made her debut in two teams of her country at once - youth and junior, becoming the champion of two championships of South America with them. A year later, the volleyball player became the world champion both among youth teams and among juniors.^{[citation needed]}

Menezes was part of the Brazilian team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[2]

Menezes won the silver medal with Sollys Osasco at the 2010 FIVB World Club Championship. She also earned the Best Spiker award.^[3]

At the 2011 Pan-American Cup, Menezes was given the Best Blocker award,^[4] and also won the gold medal with her national team.^[5]

Menezes was part of the national team who won the gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games held in Guadalajara, Mexico.^[6]

In the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix, Menezes won the silver medal with her national team and the individual award of Best Blocker.^[7]

Menezes was part of the national team which won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games held in London, UK.

Playing with Sollys Nestlé Osasco, Menezes won the gold medal and the Best Spiker award in the 2012 FIVB Club World Championship held in Doha, Qatar.^[8]

Menezes claimed the silver medal in the 2014 FIVB Club World Championship, playing with Molico Osasco, when her team lost 0–3 to the Russian Dinamo Kazan the championship match. She was named among the championship Best Team as Best Middle Blocker.^[9]

Menezes played with her national team,^[10] winning the bronze at the 2014 World Championship^[11] when her team defeated Italy 3–2 in the bronze medal match.^[12]

Menezes is of partial Lebanese origin. She was previously married to Guilherme Pallesi then divorced later. She has size 14 women’s feet.^{[citation needed]}

• Minas Tênis Clube (2002–2005)
• Rio de Janeiro Vôlei Clube (2005–2008)
• Osasco Voleibol Clube (2008–2016)
• Eczacıbaşı VitrA (2016–2018)
• Hinode Barueri (2018–2019)
• Minas Tênis Clube (2019–)