NEW YORK -- Not much is lost in translation. Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos speaks Portuguese but runs with the universal communication of a New York minute. After bursting onto the international scene with a surprise victory in the 2006 New York City Marathon, Gomes returned last year to win the world's largest marathon again. If he can take a third New York title on Sunday, he will be only the third man in the event's 40-year history to do so -- joining Americans Bill Rodgers (1976-79) and Alberto Salazar (1980-82).
Though there is a language barrier that prevented Gomes from revealing much about himself or his lifestyle during a pre-marathon press briefing on Tuesday, his presence does allow the New York City Marathon's elite athlete coordinator, David Monti, to foster his "Olympic model -- as diverse a field as possible."
And Gomes' sudden stardom in his home country and throughout South America, triggered by that first triumphant march through Big Town's five boroughs, serves at the latest glimpse of the global running culture.
"In Brazil, sports is really about soccer," said David Presas, executive producer for Globo International television, which will air Sunday's race in Brazil. "I can't name the top five runners in Brazil outside Marilson. But for those who are runners in Brazil, this guy is a superstar. There are probably hundreds from Brazil who will run New York because Marilson is running."
Gomes, 32, is typical of a Brazilian population that is painfully poor; Monti said there is a video of Gomes running barefoot in a race when he was 12 years old in his native Brasilia, the nation's capital. But Gomes is atypical in that, not raised in the big cities of Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paolo, he found the sport of running over ubiquitous soccer.
"It is very common to see runners in Rio or Sao Paolo," Presas said. "You see them on the beaches all the time; there are tracks on the beach, one on Ipanema Beach that is maybe 15 miles long. But it's not like here (in the United States), where you see runners at Times Square but also runners in Wisconsin. There is not a cult of health and competition like in the United States.
"In Rio, it's the cult of the body beautiful. But this guy won the New York City Marathon. He's a rock star."
Gomes -- it's pronounced Gomez, though he was so unknown that spectators were shouting out "Goams" when he stole the lead from favorite Paul Tergat through the corridor of noise along First Avenue in 2006 -- trains alone most of the time because "there are very few" distance runners on his level in Brazil, according to his coach, Adauto Domingues. He works at altitude in Campos do Jordao, an hour and a half south of Sao Paolo.
Monti, in filling out the elite professional field three years aog, knew little of Gomes except that he had run a "decent" time in the Chicago Marathon in 2004, "and I said, 'Wouldn't it be great to have a top South American in the race?"' said Monti, who had prior dealings with Gomes' agent, Luis Posso, a native Colombian and former New York City doorman now based in Tampa.
So Gomes was extended an invitation to run in Gotham, whereupon he immediately startled organizers and fellow competitors with his 2:09:58 victory. Voila. Or, in Portuguese: Bem Feito. (Well done.)
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