Robson de Oliveira, 36, from São Paulo, did not break any world record, not even a personal one, in his most recent marathon, the Boston marathon, the most traditional and desired of the 42.2 km races in the world, held on the 20th.
But his selflessness in helping a runner, American Ajay Haridasse, who, collapsing, was staggering and unable to stay upright about 400 meters from the finish, sacrificing his own race time, went viral and became a worldwide hit.
Robson was elevated to an instant hero when he demonstrated rare empathy in a competitive environment, what was once called “sportsmanship”. He is an unlikely hero: a production technician trained at Senai, he makes a living operating machines that produce engines for trucks at Scania.
Sometimes he has to face the early morning shift, when he trains after work, before going back to bed.
His profile in no way resembles the Brazilian amateur marathon runner who chooses Boston and the others in the group called World Majors as his priority events — New York, Berlin, Chicago, Sydney and London — the latter was the one that broke the men’s world marathon record last Sunday (26).
“I don’t insist on racing New York, Berlin or another ‘major’. But I’ve always dreamed of Boston,” he said.
Those who usually attend these events are much wealthier, generally train under technical supervision, have a “strategy” for food supplementation and take advantage of their stay abroad to do marathon running.
The son of a bricklayer and a maid who migrated from Ceará to ABC in the 1970s, Robson earns around R$10,000 gross and works alternate shifts, sometimes also on Saturdays. He made his first international trip in 2024 to race in Buenos Aires. To return to Boston, where he had already been in 2025, he made an aerial round trip, taking advantage of the fact that the race coincided with the long holiday in Tiradentes in Brazil, and this did not force him to skip work.
With all this, he is capable of running a marathon in a semi-professional time, around 2 hours and 40 minutes. In Boston, he ran 2:44:26, just above his personal best from Buenos Aires, 2:43:46, but below his first participation in the American city, in which he clocked 2:45:49.
With the audience that his gesture generated, Robson was invited by TV stations in Brazil to participate in programs. Fluent in sign language, as he is married to a hearing-impaired woman — who also runs — and father of three children, he started running just ten years ago, a 5 km race in São Bernardo do Campo.
His gravel debut was already promising: he completed the 5 km in around 21 minutes. The first marathon was in São Paulo, Yescom, in the fall of 2019, when it finished in 3:26:03.
Robson runs in carbon plate sneakers, like elite athletes, but he buys them on promotions, using loyalty programs or with the sales balance he makes when he discovers beards. He has already worn Nike, Olympikus, Chinese brands, Fila.
He likes to wear a brand from head to toe only when he runs important races, and he doesn’t mind paying for it. In Boston, it was 100% Adidas, the same brand as the flying Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha, the Africans who would make history in London days later.
Even the headband with the famous logo of the German brand, which became the foreground of photo after photo that went around the world in aid of the staggering Ajay, came out of his pocket.
With his appearances on TV and social media, his Instagram profile boomed. The likes of his posts, at the beginning of the month between 350 and 500, jumped to a few tens of thousands after Boston. Even so, he continues without any sponsorship. Free registration and accommodation are sometimes limited, like the one for the next Brasília Monumental Marathon, in November. Transport, however, is at the expense of the athlete.
Robson said it a few times, and repeated it Sheetthat his famous gesture might not have happened if he hadn’t seen another competitor also helping Ajay, as he didn’t think he would be able to handle the task alone. He thanked God that a Northern Irishman, runner Aaron Beggs, had the same idea.
Even so, this is not the first time that Robson has helped someone in a race. In last year’s Rio marathon, when he was leading some runners from the Bora advisory group, with whom he ran for some time, he experienced a situation very similar to that in Boston, but there he decided to stop on his own. “I started putting my arm on his shoulder and we both started jogging”, he says. “There were about 200 meters to go before the finish line.”
Scania said it “values attitudes that contribute to a better world” and that Robson’s attitude “reflects the company’s values and generated pride among colleagues.” In response to Sheet regarding a possible sponsorship for the worker in his upcoming races, he said that, “institutionally, Scania encourages the physical and mental well-being of its employees and offers, through the Scania Club, various sporting activities, but does not sponsor individual athletes.”
