Race walker is going home with a medal and his wedding band.

At the highest levels, sports aren’t just a physical contest. Champions often credit their success to being able to dig deep and find a source of strength and inspiration that allows them to go beyond what they thought were their body’s limits.

That’s especially true in endurance events, and last Saturday at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Brazilian Caio Bonfim tapped into a unique sort of motivation that helped power him to a first-place finish in the men’s 20-kilometer race walk finals:

“I thought that if I won the gold medal, my wife wouldn’t be angry at me.”

▼ Bonfim’s gold-winning, presumably spouse-calming moment of victory

That might make it sound like Bonfim’s wife is of the hardline mindset that second place is the first to lose, but the athlete’s anxiety wasn’t that he feared her deep disappointment if he didn’t win. Instead, Bonfim felt like he had to bring home a gold medal to make up for not bringing home his wedding ring.

Bonfim, who usually wears his wedding ring while competing, apparently, noticed that it had slipped off his finger about three kilometers into the race. Being in the middle of the world championships, however, he wasn’t in a position to stop what he was doing and search for it, and so he kept going, ringless, until the end of the race. Afterwards, he quickly informed the World Athletics Championships organizers about what had happened, and calls went out for staff and fans to help search for the lost ring. Bonfim himself retraced his steps and returned to the sections of the course he passed through before noticing his ring was missing, but despite the race ending at around 11:15 a.m., by the time of that evening’s medal award ceremony, no one had found it.

▼ Making the search even more difficult is that the majority of the race walk course was out on the streets of Tokyo, not within a stadium, as seen in the point cued in the video here.

In addition to the difficulty of locating such a small item, there was a ticking-clock element. Bonfim lost his ring on September 20, and he was scheduled to leave Japan the next day, as the World Athletics Championship was finishing on September 21. Before leaving his hotel, though, word came that someone had found a ring along the course, and when they sent a photo of it, Bonfim was able to confirm that it was his, and it was delivered to him that evening, just two hours before he had to depart for the airport for his flight back to Brazil. Upon being reunited with his ring, Bonfim swiftly slipped the band back on his finger and kissed it.

Bonfim, who says he also had thoughts of his children and home country as he was digging deep for his final spurt in the 20 kilometers, also competed in the World Athletics Championships’ 35-kilometer race walk, completing the race without becoming separated from any important personal belongings.

However, Bonfim only finished second in the 35 kilometers, so maybe racing without his ring produces the best results, though if he decides to follow that strategy, having someone hold on to it for safe keeping for him would probably be the best plan.

Source: The Answer via Hachima Kiko, Jiji, Yomiuri Shimbun
Top image: Pakutaso
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