Portuguese Olympian João Costa embodies his Geocaching.com username. It’s “Neverfail1” That tenacity leads João to find an average of 2.5 geocaches day. He joined Geocaching.com in April of 2011 and has accumulated more than 1200 finds. The spirit of “never fail” also led João to the 2012 Summer Games in London. These are his fourth Olympic games. The Portuguese Air Force Sergeant competes in Shooting.
He ranked 7th in his first event: Men’s 10m Air Pistol. And he’s not the only geocacher at the Olympic Games. João says, “My coach is and I know two more shooters, I’m sure there are more, but we all aim to have good results in the Olympic Games, and geocaching goes to a second level.”
Geocaching took awhile to hook João. He says, “A friend was in my car and said, ‘Stop, stop I want to go there.’ I asked, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I’m looking for something.’ He explained what geocaching was, but then I made fun of him. A few months later it was the same thing, but then I found the cache and it was a very nice one. The switch turned on and I was infected.”
João quickly became part of the tight-knit Portuguese geocaching community. His wife encouraged his geocaching outings. João says, “My wife loves geocaching as I get off the sofa and go walking or go hiking.”
He attended the Mega-Event 12 years Geocaching – Portugal in May. That’s where he met Geocaching.com Lackey Arne Moen, username RandolphAgarn – and shared his story about competing in the Olympic Games.
You still have time to root on your fellow geocacher. Leave a message below in comments for João. João’s competing in his final Olympic event, the Men’s 50m Pistol, on Sunday August 5th.
