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From the small port town of Limon in Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast, Nery Brenes brings hope and pride to this impoverished town.
Nery is 22 years old and has been training very hard since the early age of 12. At just 5’7” and weighing 155 lbs, Nery will proudly represent Costa Rica in the upcoming Beijing Olympics starting August.
Training non stop, seven days a week for up to three times a day, Nery recently surprised the world with his best mark yet at the Osaka in 2007. Although Nery realizes he still needs to work harder to improve his mark, he has certainly given people a reason to talk.
His specialty is the 400 meters which he will be running in Beijing. Although a medal might be a long shot for Nery, he is determined to break his own personal record of 45 seconds.
Extremely close to his family and home town, Nery even turned down several scholarship offers from U.S Universities to stay in his hometown and contribute to its improvement. His dreams are to build a school for children where they can receive not only a proper education but food and positive guidance.
He lives in a one story house with 5 generations of his family. His great grandmother, grandmother, mother, and cousins share the small house. Nery even shared his $8,000 prize money he won at the World Indoor Championship in Valencia with underprivileged families from Limon.
His trainer, Walter Salazar, has boldly stated that Nery is the best athlete Costa Rica has ever seen. With still a lot of years and opportunities ahead of him, Nery has rapidly won the hearts of Costa Ricans for his sincere and humanitarian approach to life.
To many of us, his golden heart is worth more than all the gold medals he may win in the future!
