Pelé faced the legends of the sport in the 100 meters at age 42; watch the 1982 video

King of Football took to the track against Ray Leonard, Bjorn Borg and Wayne Gretzky

Elected Athlete of the 20th Century, Skin came to the attention of the international sports media in 1982, when he was 42 years old and competed in a 100 meter race with sports icons of the time. The king of football ended the dispute in third – very close to second – against the boxer Ray Leonardthe tennis player Bjorn Borg and the ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky. What is most impressive is that all the opponents were active in their respective sports.

Gretzky, considered the greatest ice hockey player in history, was the clear winner of the dispute. At the time, the Canadian was 21 years old, half the age of the king of football. After the race, Pelé, laughing, kissed the young man.

Pelé left the sports world in mourning last Thursday, the 29th, when he died at the age of 82 from complications of colon cancer.

So far, unlike other big names in the sport and relevant figures, none of the King’s three ‘adversaries’ have posted tributes about Pele’s death.

Watch the video of the dispute below.

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Benjamin Allen

"Evil pop culture fanatic. Extreme bacon geek. Food junkie. Thinker. Hipster-friendly travel nerd. Coffee buff."

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