No athlete could have won NYC Marathon since 1982 but the recent dazzling performance Meb Keflezighi has revived the history for Americans. The US athlete was emotionally aroused when he crossed the line to grab the victory. He became unfit for the race when he received a bad blow of injury in 2007 and doctors had declared that there was a possibility that he might not run again. He wept for his friend who died during the Olympic trials two years ago. So his emotions were triggered by all three reasons. He is 34 years old and is the first American athlete to win the Marathon since 1982 when Alberto Salazar won the race for Americans.
Keflezighi ran the 26.6 miles distance in 2:09:15. Robert Kipkoech remained second and lagged behind with a margin of 39 seconds. The third position holder was Mike Sayenko, who covered the same distance in 2 hours, 16 minutes and 38 seconds. A decade ago Keflezighi sent a letter to Alberto Salazar who had won the Marathon in 1982 for America and was working with Nike when he communicated with him. He expressed how his enormous potential is being drained without requisite funds required to fully focus on his training. Few months after he got American nationality as he was an immigrant previously. He migrated to U.S. from his native land Eritrea which was a war-hit country and so backward that there was no electricity in his village. The living conditions were so exasperated that even a 12-year child could be forced to fight in the war. One way or the other, he and his family managed to reach Italy and reached U.S. two years later.
At a tender age of 12 he started running on the school level. He expressed his love for America by saying that he is proud of wearing this USA jersey.
Meb Keflezighi
Comments