When Rhea Bullos enters the cinder track, she has prepared her feet. She carefully wrapped every single toe with skin-colored tape, then the heels and the pads. She seldom wears shoes because the eleven-year-old athletics team in the Philippines has only two pairs - for twelve children.
Rhea wears her homemade foot protection in style. She painted the logo of the sporting goods manufacturer Nike, the so-called Swoosh, in light blue on her instep, his name on the side of her foot. Despite running barefoot, the girl won three gold medals in the Iloilo sports stadium on the island of Panay last week: in runs over 400 meters, 800 meters and 1500 meters.
Fredirick Valenzuela / Handout via Reuters
Rhea Bullos foot: A swoosh and lots of tape
Shortly before Christmas, the photo of Rhea and her Nike replica spreads quickly, always tagged: the name of the company. His coach Predirick Valenzuela said the girl only started athletics a month ago and has shown a lot of talent.
"Winning three medals in a competition is difficult, but she did it," he said. Sports shoes could be important for your future. All athletes dream of spike shoes. "Not necessarily from Nike, as long as they have good shoes to compete in."
Many are touched by Twitter: "This girl is really an inspiration and has warmed my heart," writes one user, "Go Girl!" Another: "To those who want to help: check the other two classmates."
UPDATE:
Rhea F. Bullos
Salvation Elementary School
Brgy. Cabalic Balasan, Iloilo
PS. For those who want to help, you might as well check the other 2 of her classmates pic.twitter.com/9OA7Jp38EA
Rhea Bullos and her team meanwhile have offers of help from well-known athletes and private individuals who want to sponsor shoes, reports the Philippine "Daily Guardian". For many years, the athletes had been running barefoot in competitions with taped feet, the teacher and trainer Benedicto Prasas told the newspaper.
One of the young team's co-coaches had the idea of painting the Nike logo on the adhesive strips for fun. The homemade foot protection could be a lucky charm, says Prasas, because since 2006 the team has always won in competitions at schools. Certainly soon with suitable shoes on the feet.
