This is Rhea Bullos, she's 11 and couldn't afford to buy sport shoes to compete, so she covered her feet with plasters and drew Nike logo on them. And guess what, she won 3 gold medals (400, 800 and 1500m)
Not to discount her success, but I’m a bit disbelieving here and actually think it’s badass in a different way. I’ve been to remote villages with people basically camped out outside cities because they couldn’t afford houses and even they had shoes. Meanwhile, some people run marathons on asphalt barefoot. I suspect she likes running barefoot because that’s her preference and shoes can actually add weight at the competitive level. This was her preferred way of running. They might also require shoes and she was able to comply with these. Remember those five finger shoes that were also popular.
The young girl actually has one pair of training shoes but she, together with two other girls of the 5th district, prefer to run barefoot since they feel more comfortable and play better without shoes on.
furbalve03 on September 12nd, 2020 at 18:08 UTC »
Hopefully Nike sees this and gives her some merch... and a sponsorship.
dmkplcow on September 12nd, 2020 at 18:27 UTC »
Not to discount her success, but I’m a bit disbelieving here and actually think it’s badass in a different way. I’ve been to remote villages with people basically camped out outside cities because they couldn’t afford houses and even they had shoes. Meanwhile, some people run marathons on asphalt barefoot. I suspect she likes running barefoot because that’s her preference and shoes can actually add weight at the competitive level. This was her preferred way of running. They might also require shoes and she was able to comply with these. Remember those five finger shoes that were also popular.
flatspotting on September 12nd, 2020 at 21:07 UTC »