A win for America

So maybe you’ve heard, Meb Keflezgihi became the first American man in 27 years to win the New York Marathon.  I first saw Meb run when I watched the 2004 Olympics where he won a silver medal in a crazy marathon (a nutty defrocked priest had attacked the marathon leader). Americans haven’t been dominant in distance running for a while so when Meb won that silver, I was happy that he was running for my country. Even though it would have been great for Ryan Hall to have won the New York Marathon, I was really excited that it was Meb who won instead. Ryan is younger, he’s got more racing years ahead of him but Meb is 34 and while his win shows that he’s in great racing shape, he probably doesn’t have a lot of peak racing years ahead.

It never occurred to me that within just a few days of his amazing win, people would detract from the accomplishment of an American man by saying in effect, well he isn’t really American.  Specifically, here’s what Darren Rovell of CNBC said:

Given our disappointing results, embracing Keflezighi is understandable. But Keflezighi’s country of origin isEritrea, a small country in Africa. He is an American citizen thanks to taking a test and living in our country.

Nothing against Keflezighi, but he’s like a ringer who you hire to work a couple hours at your office so that you can win the executive softball league.

Meb came to the United States from Eritrea when he was 12, his family were political refugees who fled their country fearing for their lives. Meb ran for San Diego High School and UCLA.  He has competed in two Olympic Games.  He became a citizen in 1998 and he was wearing a USA jersey when he crossed the finish line in New York on Sunday.

Mr. Rovell we do not embrace Meb because the other American runners did not fare as well in the race, we embrace Meb because he embodies what it really means to be an American.  I’d be willing to bet that he and his family have a much more acute awareness of what it means to live in the United States than you do. If someone wants to come to this country and have a better life and proudly represent our country then I hardly think we should be faulted for embracing him.

Here’s something for your running mix for Meb.