The Olympic torch was heavier than I expected, but Rio was as hot as I remembered it. The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro were scheduled to commence on Aug. 5, 2016. At just past 11 a.m. on that day, I was running a distance of about 100 meters down Avenida Atlantica, along Copacabana Beach, to pass the torch to the next runner as my family watched nearby. Despite being wintertime in Brazil -- its location in the Southern Hemisphere means its seasons are flipped from those in the North -- the temperature hovered around 30 C, causing beads of sweat to trickle down my face.
Brazil is my homeland. My great-grandfather crossed the Atlantic by boat and reached the shores of Rio more than a hundred years ago. Today, my mother and two of my three sisters reside in Rio. We're a tightknit family. I return to Rio twice a year, generally in August and during New Year's, and my children also do their best to make it down to Rio from the U.S. So even if there were no Olympics, my children and I would have been here around this time. That said, I felt this summer was going to be special, quite different from other years. That's why I urged our staff in Brazil and the Americas to do their very best to secure Nissan's position as the local sponsor of the Olympics.
