On the first day of the first competition at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the heptathlon was the first event. The first discipline was the 100m hurdles, and the first girl, in the first lane was Brazil’s own Vanessa Chefer.
Four years later, and 25 years after she first told her mother that she wanted to run, Vanessa is preparing for her finale. A final heptathlon, in a final season, at a final Olympics.
Read her story in my article for World Athletics
Photos: Bjorn Paree