Rosa Mota runs the Macau mini-marathon at 65 and is an anti-doping ambassador.

Portugal’s Rosa Mota today resumed her role as anti-doping ambassador for the Macau International Marathon and pledged that on Sunday, at the age of 65, she will take part in the mini-marathon she won in her last two appearances.

After winning the mini-marathon in 2018 and 2019, and after a three-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the former Olympic champion, former world and European champion told Lusa that she was returning to these competitions just for fun.

“I’m going to a mini-marathon [de 6,3 quilómetros] once again enjoy, have fun and hope everything goes well like the previous years I was here,” he said.

Longevity is easy to explain, he said: “It’s the enjoyment of the sport, the enjoyment of running is doing what I enjoy. This is what I do. I continue to train daily, race, it gives me a lot of fun and I think it’s good for your health. “I just hope that people of my generation will think, ‘If she’s doing it, we should do it too,’ for the sake of health, that sport is fundamental.”

Guest of honor at the 42nd Macau International Marathon, the Portuguese woman once again takes on the role of anti-doping ambassador. The idea is to talk to athletes “about the problems of doping and cheating in sports, warn them not to get caught in this web and live with them,” he explained.

Some 12,000 participants from 47 countries and regions will take part in the marathon, half marathon and mini marathon on Sunday. Dozens of athletes from mainland China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco and Russia have been invited to compete in the competition, which does not include Portugal but does include athletes from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique.