By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has returned to Rio de Janeiro for the running event, the 2014 Mano a Mano challenge, to be held today, Sunday, August 17th on a specially designed track, temporarily located on Leme Beach. Additionally during his stay in the city, Bolt ran a recreational race with children from Rio’s pacified communities on Saturday, August 16th.
Considered to be the world’s fastest man, Bolt ran at Leme Beach located in Rio’s Zona Sul (South Zone) on Saturday with children from the pacified favela communities of Chapéu Mangueira/Babilônia.
Organized by Serviço Social da Indústria (SESI), the children were part of the Atleta do Futuro (Future Athlete) program. “Our goal is not to train high performance athletes like Bolt,” Manager of SESI Sport and Leisure Rio de Janeiro, Fernando de Araújo told Agência Brasil, “but to use sports to stimulate the socialization of young people.”
Bolt was previously in the city on March 31, 2013 for last year’s edition of the Mano a Mano challenge held on Copacabana Beach. There he attempted and failed to break own record for the 150-meter race during the Male Olympian race.
On Sunday, Bolt will compete against three other sprinters; Brazilian Aldemir Gomes, American Wallace Spearmon and Mark Lewis-Francis from England. The event will take place on Leme beach during the second day of the Nissan-sponsored 2014 Mano a Mano challenge.
Bolt is the current world record holder for the 100-meter race. He finished in 9.58 seconds during the World Outdoor Championships held in Berlin in August, 2009. The runner told reporters during a recent press conference that he expected he would finish in; “under ten seconds, no problem.”
A six-time Olympic gold medalist, Bolt is expected to return to Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games and told reporters that the events will be an opportunity to; “push my legend status to a higher level.”
Read more (in Portuguese).
* The Rio Times Daily Updates feature is offered to help keep you up-to-date with important news as it happens.