The 20-kilometre race gave Brazil its fifth medal at Paris 2024, its second silver medal. The credit goes to 33-year-old Caio Bonfim, who managed to get on the podium for the first time in his fourth participation in an Olympic Games.
Born in Mexico City, he has two world bronze medals in his trophy cabinet, obtained in 2017 and 2023, as well as medals at the Pan American Games. He has participated in all the Olympic Games since London 2012 and his best performance so far had been fourth place in Rio 2016.
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In the French capital, he managed to get onto the podium on his fourth attempt with a time of 1:19:09. Two hundredths of a second behind was the Spaniard Álvaro Martín, while the gold medal went to the Ecuadorian Daniel Pintado, who was the leader throughout the race and managed to pull away in the last two laps to win with a time of 1:18:55.
PERSEVERANÇA.#TimeBrasil #JogosOlímpicos #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/OLtJJyjbte
— Time Brasil (@timebrasil) August 1, 2024
Ecuador has historically stood out in this discipline thanks to Jefferson Pérez, who won gold in the 20-kilometer race in Atlanta in 1996 and silver in Beijing in 2008. For Brazil, on the other hand, this is the first time it has won a medal in this sport.
Caio Bonfim comes from a family with strong ties to race walking. His mother, Gianetti Bonfim, was also a professional athlete, a multiple champion in Brazil who represented the country in international tournaments such as the South American Athletics Championships and the World Athletics Team Race Walking Championships.
