http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/refuee-crisis-hits-close-home-09-nyc-marathon-champ-article-1.2417045
European refugee crisis hits close to home for 2009 New York City
Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi
BY NATHANIEL VINTON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, October 29, 2015, 7:15 PM
New York City Marathon star Meb Keflezighi, who escaped war-torn
Eritrea in the late 1980s, relates to the plight of current refugeese
seeking asylum across Europe.
American marathon star Meb Keflezighi says he prays for the refugees
caught up in Europe's migrant crisis.
They are fleeing war, as vulnerable as Keflezighi's family was when
they fled Eritrea in the late 1980s, spending nearly two years in an
Italian refugee camp before arriving in the U.S.
"I understand why they go, and why they have to do it," says
Keflezighi, in New York for Sunday's marathon, which he won in 2009.
"I understand their pain."
EU LEADERS AGREE ON MEASURES TO SLOW MIGRANT ARRIVALS
After growing up in San Diego, Keflezighi became America's best male
marathoner, winning an Olympic silver medal at the Athens Games in
2004. He hopes to compete in next summer's Rio Games, and calls
Sunday's race in New York a "bridge race" to the Olympic trials in
February.
Hawi Keflezighi, his younger brother and manager, recalls their
father, Russom, going to Sudan and then Italy before arranging his
family to join him. From there, he tried to get his wife and six
children to Canada and Sweden but were turned away.
"He had to navigate all that bureaucracy," says Hawi. "He had a
seventh-grade education, but he was persistent… We found that freedom
and safety in Italy, and our parents wanted those opportunities."
The family made it to the U.S. on Oct. 21, 1987, when Meb was 12. In
San Diego, Russom worked as a cab driver, a janitor at banks, and at
an East African restaurant. He insisted that his children pursue
educations rather than help earn income for the family, which grew to
six boys and five girls.
By 1998, Meb was an All-American track and cross-country runner at
UCLA. He became a naturalized citizen on July 2, 1998. At the last
Olympic marathon in 2012 he finished fourth. He also won the Boston
Marathon in 2014. Now 40, he has been training in California for two
marathons: this one, and the Olympic trial marathon, Feb. 13, 2016, in
Los Angeles.
"I have not looked beyond the trials," he said. "I am a realistic
person. I like to make the team. If I can have the great honor to
represent our country, be in the top three, then I'll start doing my
homework for Rio."
Sunday will be Keflezighi's 22nd marathon, and his 10th in New York
since he made his debut at age 27 in 2002, finishing ninth in 2
minutes, 12:35 seconds. He promised then to never run another
marathon, but has finished on the podium three times.
On Thursday the organizers of the race, New York Road Runners, named
Keflezighi an ambassador for Team for Kids, an official NYRR charity
that raised $5 million in last year's race with help from 1,700
marathon runners.
"There's so many people who helped us be where they are," Keflezighi
says of his family. "You have to think about those people, because I
wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for those people, giving the
opportunities to be in the United States."
Received on Thu Oct 29 2015 - 21:26:59 EDT