Ronaldo da Costa

Ronaldo da Costa (born June 7, 1970 in Descoberto, Brazil) broke the ten-year-old marathon world record in 1998 in Berlin. The record had been held by Belayneh Densamo from Ethiopia at the Rotterdam Marathon in April 1988.

The youngest of eleven children, Da Costa became a national hero after winning the traditional São Silvestre Brazilian road race (15 km) in 1994.