Marathoner Daniel do Nascimento has been located by family and friends in São Paulo, Brazil after being missing for over a month and trigging a desperate search on the streets of the city.
In three separate videos posted on social media on Saturday, do Nascimento was seen smiling with his mother Valdirene Paula Ferreira in the back of a vehicle, speaking with a police officer, having a meal and did not appear to be injured.
On Monday, Ferreira made an emotional appeal for help locating her son, who turned 28 the following day. She said he left the family home in Paraguacu Paulista in São Paulo on June 19 with a black backpack and never returned. An official missing persons report was filed last week despite do Nascimento being missing for over a month.
“Does anyone have any information about my son? His name is Daniel Nascimento, better known by the nickname ‘Armero.’ He was a marathon runner… (He suffers from psychological issues.),” Ferreira said in her post.
But finding do Nascimento proved to be difficult despite his popularity in the city and in the local running scene, according to the group that coordinated efforts to make sure he was found safe.
Fábio Jesus, who is also a distance runner, told A Mile. A Minute that after Ferreira’s appeal to find her son, he invited her to stay at his home last week while the search took place. The group spent three days looking for do Nascimento and coordinated their movements the without the help of local police.
“We handled the entire operation discreetly, precisely to increase the chances of finding him,” Jesus said.
Meanwhile, Paulo Paula another runner who was also involved in the search, said that the effort was difficult because do Nascimento would continue to find ways to be elusive. Paula also disputed some reports that do Nascimento was tracked down by police since he was shown posing with an officer in a video posted on social media.
“I have videos, photos, audio recordings, conversations and screenshots documenting the entire setup we organized,” Paula said. “It was three days of hard work. Everyone was publishing news, but finding Danielzinho wasn’t a simple task. He’s a smart guy. The ones who actually found him were Israel and Angelo. They had been out searching the streets since the previous night right up until the moment they located him.”
Do Nascimento is currently serving a five-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for drostanolone, metenolone and nandrolone in an out-of-competition sample from 2024 when he was at a training camp in Kenya. The drugs are S1 anabolic steroid class and all prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned items.
A provisional ban was issued in July 2024 just before do Nascimento was set to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics for Brazil and made official after he was unable to explain the presence of the drugs after the AIU made several attempts to navigate an appeals process.
Do Nascimento has been largely absent from social media and has been living with his month since being unable to compete. His management team last posted a message on his behalf on July 16, 2024 and addressed his mental state along with how he was being impacted by the AIU ban, which expires in 2029. He was given a one-year reduction for eventually admitting the presence of all three substance.
“Mental health is vital for any professional to perform well in their field, and Daniel has been grappling with traumas and mental health issues that have brought him to his lowest point in recent months,” the statement read. “The emotional toll is immense right now; our duty is to provide full support for his psychological recovery and bring back the smile that captivated the world at Tokyo 2020.”
