PUBLISHED 09/25/2006
The Phenom: Meb Keflezighi
No American man had brought home an Olympic Marathon medal in 28 years, but in Athens on August 29, Meb Keflezighi-who asked, "Why should there be pressure on me?"-stalked the leaders and hung on champion Stefano Baldini's tail to capture a silver medal in 2:11:29.
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| ©Patrik Giardino |
To the modest but diligent Keflezighi, it was the logical product of the hard work, discipline, and commitment he'd put in since the ninth grade, when classmates wrote in his yearbook "You're going to be an Olympian." Keflezighi, 28, was born in Eritrea, a breakaway nation at civil war with Ethiopia, and moved to San Diego in 1987. He was playing soccer in Balboa Park in 1988 when he happened upon the Foot Locker Cross-Country finals-the national high-school championship in which he'd take second five years later. Today he holds the U.S. 10,000-meter record and was the 2004 8-K and 15-K champ. After Keflezighi's 26.2-mile debut in New York (2:12.20) in 2002, a friend told him "you got your Ph.D. today" in marathoning. Clearly, he's putting it to work.
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