Ronaldinho goes golden

Associated Press - BARCELONA, Spain
Ronaldinho, the 2004 soccer player of the year and a key member of Brazil's 2002 World Cup champion, will go golden this weekend.

Ronaldinho will wear real gold in his soccer boots in Barcelona's game against Real Zaragoza. Nike has developed a special gold and white version of the shoes Ronaldinho normally wears. It will feature real 24-carat gold applied to the Nike logo.

Previously, Michael Johnson wore a gold track spike in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova wore tennis shoes laced with gold at Wimbledon this year.

The boots feature a gold tongue with an 'R' embroidered in silver color on the right boot -- inspired by the necklace Ronaldinho wears -- and an embroidered No. 10 on the left. The heel is embossed with five gold stars to honor Brazil's five World Cup wins, and the boot also includes a laser-patterned sock liner with the word 'Ronaldinho' on it.

"I can't wait to wear the gold boots against Zaragoza," he said. "We were wondering how to give the boot a personal touch, so they copied the design of my neck chain to reproduce the 'R' and added my number 10. I got the joy of taking part in the design, so they are all mine and personalized."