Russian Sexagenarian Reaches Rio On Foot For Olympic Games
Russian sexagenarian walked over 18,270 km for about 500 days and reached his dream city of Rio de Janeiro today. He started some 17 months ago and walked about 50 to 60 km a day.
Sergey Lukyanov started the adventure journey from Russia’s northern capital of St. Petersburg on 1 April 2015, transcended continents and crossed a dozen countries to make his childhood dream come true.
He walked through China, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. He thereafter boarded a plane and reached South America to cross Atlantic Ocean. From Chilean capital of Santiago he started walking and reached Brazil’s capital after trekking across Argentina and Uruguay.
The pensioner said, “It was a childhood dream to visit Rio de Janeiro that I got from books.”
Lukyanov thanks volunteers around the world for their tremendous support to make his journey possible. People welcomed him everywhere. Some gave shelter, some gave food, some gave ticket and some helped in getting visas.
He had unsuspected health problems too in between and had to undergo a surgery. With this he lost about 45 days and failed to reach the dream city on August 5 during the opening ceremony of Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Olympic Medal Count (August 09)
| G | S | B | TOTAL | |||
| 1 | USA | UNITED STATES | 9 | 8 | 9 | 26 |
| 2 | CHN | CHINA | 8 | 3 | 6 | 17 |
| 3 | HUN | HUNGARY | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | AUS | AUSTRALIA | 4 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 5 | RUS | RUSSIAN FEDERATION | 3 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
| 6 | ITA | ITALY | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 7 | KOR | REPUBLIC OF KOREA | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | JPN | JAPAN | 3 | 1 | 10 | 14 |
| 9 | FRA | FRANCE | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 10 | THA | THAILAND | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 11 | GBR | GREAT BRITAIN | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 12 | GER | GERMANY | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | SWE | SWEDEN | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 14 | BRA | BRAZIL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | TPE | TAIPEI (CN TAIPEI) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | BEL | BELGIUM | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 | GRE | GREECE | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 | NED | NETHERLANDS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | ARG | ARGENTINA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | COL | COLOMBIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | CRO | CROATIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | KOS | KOSOVO | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | SLO | SLOVENIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | VIE | VIETNAM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | INA | INDONESIA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | NZL | NEW ZEALAND | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | PRK | DPR KOREA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | RSA | SOUTH AFRICA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 | CAN | CANADA | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 30 | KAZ | KAZAKHSTAN | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 31 | UKR | UKRAINE | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 32 | AZE | AZERBAIJAN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | DEN | DENMARK | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | MAS | MALAYSIA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | MGL | MONGOLIA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | PHI | PHILIPPINES | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | SVK | SLOVAKIA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 32 | TUR | TURKEY | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 | UZB | UZBEKISTAN | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 40 | ESP | SPAIN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | GEO | GEORGIA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | ISR | ISRAEL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | KGZ | KYRGYZSTAN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | POL | POLAND | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | POR | PORTUGAL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | SUI | SWITZERLAND | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 40 | UAE | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Author: Paul Linus
