Americans everywhere are celebrating Independence Day today.
The expected 20,000-plus fans at Hayward Field tonight will get to see up to 12 Americans celebrate the ultimate achievement – the right to represent the United States on the world’s biggest athletic stage in Beijing next month.
Many of these citizens have lived here all their lives, always known the freedoms promised by the Constitution and so proudly claimed by the Declaration of Independence.
Others have moved here later in life, whether as children with their parents or older as adults.
Some, like Meb Keflezighi, Lopez Lomong and Bernard Lagat, could never have imagined having the opportunities they have today growing up in Africa. Keflezighi, from Eritrea, moved with his family to San Diego in 1987 via Italy to escape a war with Ethiopia.
Lomong has the unlikeliest story of all. Growing up in Sudan, Lomong is one of the “Lost Boys,” a group of boys who were separated from parents during the Darfur conflict. He lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for 10 years before being selected to come to the U.S. as a foster child.
Lagat, meanwhile, came to the U.S. in 1996 to study and run at Washington State University.
The strongest tie between all of them, and their reasons for choosing to become American citizens, is a desire to represent the country that gave them opportunities.
Keflezighi said that growing up, he was surrounded by the Eritrean war for independence from Ethiopia.
“I saw a lot of casualty of war and deterioration,” he said. “My father decided to have a better life for his kids and so we moved to Italy where we lived for a year and a half.”
His father “wasn’t satisfied with it and decided it wasn’t a land of opportunity,” Keflezighi said. “We tried … other countries like Sweden and Canada, but it didn’t work out; but it did work out in the land of opportunity, and that’s the United States.”
Keflezighi uses the phrase “land of opportunity” a lot. This is, after all, the country that gave him his education, his career. He went back to Eritrea for the first time since leaving for Italy in 2002, where he visited with family there – aunts, uncles, cousins.
“I have to help them out as much as I can,” he said. “Their American dream is here. Everybody wants to come here and get a better life because this is the land of opportunity.”
About the time he graduated as a four-time NCAA champion from UCLA in 1998, Keflezighi decided to become a U.S. citizen.
“I thought I had this great potential talent for running and at that point … I’d been here for half my life,” he said. “In 1998 I’ve been 11 years here, so it was common sense. I decided to represent the land that gave me the opportunities.”
Keflezighi made his first Olympic team in 2000, winning the Olympic Trials 10,000m and qualifying for the Olympic final.
Four years later in Athens, he became the first American man to win a marathon medal since 1976 when he took home the silver running on the original marathon course.
“It was the greatest accomplishment for my life,” he said. “For (the last) 5K … I got to thank the people that helped me and gave me the opportunity to do the stuff that I am. I ran the race, but there’s hundreds and hundreds of people, whether it’s coaches, teammates, fans and teachers that say, ‘Hey, keep going, keep going, keep going,’ since I was in the ninth grade, and I want to thank them and thank my family, obviously. I wasn’t emotional when I crossed the line, just because I have to focus on the flashbacks to where my life started and where it’s going.”
Even though he won’t be able to defend his silver medal, as he finished eighth at the Olympic marathon trials and has been dealing with muscular-skeletal problems that forced him to stop training until May 9, Keflezighi is looking forward to tonight’s race and the chance to earn another Olympic berth, especially because it falls on the Fourth of July.
“It couldn’t be any better,” he said. “In Oregon, which has a big distance crowd and Prefontaine, to have it on Independence Day, for me it has a special meaning. I just hope it will be a good day for me and that I will make the team.”
If all goes according to plan for Lomong, he will fulfill a dream he’s had since 2000. While in Kenya, he saved five shillings, about five U.S. cents, to walk five miles to go watch the Sydney Olympics on a black-and-white TV in the Kakuma refugee camp. He saw Michael Johnson win gold in the 400m and decided he wanted to run fast.
After coming to Tully, N.Y., outside Syracuse, as a foster child in 2001, he got that opportunity.
He developed into an All-American high school runner before becoming an NCAA champion at Northern Arizona University.
Now he’s one of the favorites to challenge for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in the 1,500m.
“It changed my life,” he said of coming to the U.S. “When I look at where I was seven years ago and here I am right now. Running is what saved my life and now I’m doing it for fun. It means a lot.”
Lagat has already won two Olympic medals in the 1,500m – bronze in 2000 and silver in 2004 – while running for Kenya. After becoming an American citizen in 2004 and becoming eligible to compete for the U.S. in 2006, Lagat has set his sights on winning gold as an American. He won the U.S.’ first-ever World Championships gold medal in the 1,500m last year, then doubled back and won another gold in the 5,000m.
He won the 5,000m final Monday night to clinch his spot in a USA singlet in Beijing and is happy to be assured of a spot on the U.S. team.
“I just wanted to win. I just wanted to make sure I made Team USA, which was very important to me,” he said. “I’ve lived in this country for a long time and received a lot of support from this country. I got my education here in the United States, and being the first one from my family to get an education was the biggest achievement in my career. Then came running. It came the time when I thought I want to settle in America, I want to raise my family here, and I wanted to get the opportunities that Americans get here.
“I felt enormous pride last year running and winning two golds for the United States. This is where I feel comfortable, and I wanted to make the best out of my running career in America.”
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