You might be mistaken for thinking that Iguatemiza Sobreira was struggling to keep up with her 12-year-old granddaughter at the Transforma Sports Festival on Saturday (20 June), but the truth was quite the opposite. The 80-year-old grandmother stood out among the more than 1,000 people who took part for her enthusiasm and willingness to get involved.

The third edition of the Transforma Sports festival took place at the Olympic Village in Mato Alto, in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Dona Iguatemiza tried out hockey, fencing and golf, but chose archery as her favourite, calling it, "A very beautiful sport.”
 
Saturday's event was no exception to her usual lively routine. As well as daily walks in the Vaz Lobo neighborhood where she lives, she has also been spotted on the hiking trails of Alto da Boa Vista and the Sugar Loaf. And this was not the first time she had taken part in the Transforma Festival – she was there at the two previous editions as well.

"In Santa Cruz I did everything, I tried out so many different things. More than 10 sports. There was peteca too," she recalls. Peteca is a sport with its origins in Brazil’s indigenous culture where a leather ball studded with feathers, reminiscent of a shuttlecock, is batted back and forth with the palm of the hand. Dona Iguatemiza, however, was referring to badminton, which was on offer at the first edition of the festival.
 
The children in her life help to keep her young. Dona Iguatemiza has raised two children of her own and five grandchildren, who are all keen practitioners of sports such as volleyball, swimming and judo.

"It’s funny because I’ve never done much sport – I don’t know who they take after," she joked.

The festival is part of the Transforma Education Program which brings the Rio 2016 Games into the classrooms of Brazil’s schools. The program was launched in 2014 and is currently present in 2,135 schools in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. Approximately one million students have benefitted so far. This week the program arrives in Brasilia and is set to reach a further 5,000 students.
 
Transforma provides educational materials related to the Games, as well as practical and theoretical sports training for physical education teachers, program leaders and "youth agents",  the program’s student representatives.