http://www.dailybreeze.com/events/20160613/olympics-meb-keflezighi-will-try-to-become-oldest-marathon-medalist
Olympics: Meb Keflezighi will try to become oldest marathon medalist
The 41-year-old Meb Keflezighi is training to become the oldest
Olympian to earn a medal. Photos By Sean M. Haffe, Jim Rogash Getty,
Photo Illustration by Mark Rojas
By Keith Lair, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
POSTED: 06/13/16, 6:48 PM PDT | UPDATED: 7 HRS AGO
The 41-year-old former UCLA standout and San Diego resident will be
trying to become the oldest to win an Olympic gold medal in Rio de
Janeiro on Aug. 21. He qualified for his third Games by finishing
second at the U.S. Trials in February in the streets of downtown L.A.
“The biggest thing (between the 2004 Games and now is that) I have no
hair,” he joked.
But then he got serious about the difference.
“I used to collect mile repeats of 4:08, 4:12,” he recalled. “I would
go to (UCLA’s) Drake (Stadium) and run five or six 2:02s (800 meters)
and then let loose with a 1:53. Those things are not possible anymore.
I could do 15 miles at a 4:57 tempo before (the) Athens (Olympics).
Now I cannot do that. If I can run a 5:02 for 14 miles I’m happy with
it.
“To come back and make the Olympics is exciting.”
Keflezighi, who will be 41 years, 108 days old when he races in Rio,
has seen a lot of marathoners retire at his age.
“As I’ve gotten older, my nutrition has changed, my training has
changed, my recovery has changed,” he said. “I used to do
Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday long runs. I can’t do that anymore.
After every two days of hard intensity I ask my body what it needs.
“I’m thankful I do not have to prove anything. If it comes, it comes.
If it doesn’t, there is another day. The clock doesn’t lie. I look
forward to exercise every day because that is life. Most people who do
retire give up when they are injured, but injuries are part of life.
Disappointment is part of life. But you wake up the next day and
follow the sun. The next day is brighter. It might be a bad day, but
it’s OK. Tomorrow will get better.”
Carlos Alberto de Sousa Lopes of Portugal is the oldest to have won
the Olympic marathon, winning on the streets of Los Angeles in 1984 at
the age of 37. There have been four Olympic marathon winners older
than age 35. Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda won the 26.2-mile race four
years ago in London at the age of 23. Keflezighi took fourth in that
race.
Degaga Wolde of Ethiopia is the oldest Olympic medalist, taking the
silver in 1972 at age 40. Clarence DeMar is the oldest U.S. medalist
in the event, taking silver in 1924 at the age of 36.
Keflezighi may not be the only 40-year-old Olympian in Rio, either. He
will likely be joined by Ruggero Pertile of Italy, who was fourth in
the world championships in Beijing last year and 10th in the London
Games.
Antoni Bernado of Andorra finished 74th in London at age 45, his last
marathon. He competed in the 5,000 and 10,000 in 2013. Juan Carlos
Cardona of Colombia was 83rd in London at age 37 and last ran a
marathon in 2014.
Keflezighi will be joined by 30-year-old Galen Rupp and 27-year-old
Jared Ward from the U.S.
Ward was not even in school when Keflezighi won a CIF State cross
country title for San Diego High School.
“He is obviously a tremendous competitor and I think it really speak
volumes about him and his coach that he is consistently good for so
long,” said Rupp, who won the Trials in his first marathon. “He never
has a bad run ever. He is always right up there and always a tough
competitor. He has had great races over the years and definitely it is
something to be admired.”
Keflezighi won a silver medal at the ’04 Games in Athens and broke his
hip during the ’08 Trials, missing those Games.
He was born in Eritrea and escaped to the U.S. as a toddler, the
family fleeing persecution. He because a U.S. citizen when he
graduated from UCLA.
He won the New York Marathon in 2009 and then took the Boston Marathon
in 2014, the first American to accomplish the feat in 19 years.
“I’m a different kind of runner. I’ve done it from the front, done it
from the back, done it from the middle,” he said. “As people get
older, they get more wisdom. You have to be healthy and use training
to sustain your consistency. You do not have to have your A-plus game,
but you have to have a consistent B-plus average in your training.”
The Games will be his 24th career marathon.
“Going to a race you have plans and strategies,” he said. “You never
really own a race. You have to cover something when someone makes a
move.
“Honestly the only marathon where I have run my own race was when I
won Boston. We have a plan, A to Z, but you have to try to execute in
that moment.”
Received on Tue Jun 14 2016 - 08:42:41 EDT