Does it his way, like everything else
By Christopher Hunt
EUGENE, Ore. – Anthony Famiglietti raced from the front from the gun. He darted into the stands after he won and high-fived a bunch of random fans that enjoyed watching him win as much as he enjoyed winning.
He ran that way because that was honest to himself. Then delivered the most candid interview a runner could give after making an Olympic team. Famiiglietti, a native of Medford, Long Island, won the 3,000 steeplechase in 8 minutes, 20.24 seconds, the fastest by an American this year.
“I was second guessing myself all day,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what level athlete you are there’s always that level of self-doubt.”
But he didn’t’ succumb to that. He didn’t give in. Familigetti continued to walk his own path, the same way he lives his life. He doesn’t follow a normal race schedule. He doesn’t talk much to the media. He has a Lotus flower tattooed to his right shoulder, a Buddhist symbol, and wears Tibetan ring on his left hand. But he attends Methodist and Baptist churches and reads books by Christian televangelist Joel Osteen.
“I’m a kind of guy that likes to take the best of everything and look for the truths,” he said.
Familigetti said he began by making some changes to his lifestyle this year. He changed his eating habits. “I used to eat junk,” he said. He started going to church.
The racing was the easier part. He would lead the entire way and deal if he fell apart.
“I got out and ran aggressively like I always do,” said Famiglietti, who now lives and trains in Knoxville, Tenn. “Whether that meant finishing dead last with dead legs or finishing first with dead legs. Luckily, it was first. You have to forget if you’re going to die because you know you’re going to run the first mile in 4:20. When there were two laps left I still had more left in the tank. I know Josh McAdams is a strong runner and that he would try to kick near the end. That’s why I went out fast, to try to take the kick out of some of the younger guys.
William Nelson finished second in 8:21.47 and McAdams third in 8:21.99. Both made hard charges with 300 meters left to take a shot at Familgietti.
“With two laps left, I felt the wind kick up,” Familgietti said. “I looked up at the JumboTron and saw the gap. I knew it if felt the wind they felt it too. We were going to hurt together. So I just pushed.”
Familgietti said he felt conflicted about qualifying for the Olympic team at first. He thought about boycotting the Games because of the reported human rights violations in China.
Then there was the fact that he simply didn’t like the direction the sport is headed. He remembered how he felt in 2004 at the Athens Olympics.
“In 2004, I felt very lonely,” he said. The Olympics is not what it used to be. It doesn’t have the power. People are getting caught up in winning the gold medal, the silver medal, the bronze medal, the endorsements. It’s too commercial. People are losing sight of what the Olympics are about.”
In the end, he decided he could be an ambassador for the sport by representing his country while embracing the better qualities of a foreign one.
Familgietti is intent to be his own individual – one who doesn’t need to shave his facial hair even if his wild hair and long beard make he look like a lumberjack -- one who will race with the accelerator down until the engine blows. The same way someone else at Hayward Field used to.
“When I was on the start line I said, ‘Let’s channel (Steve) Prefontaine,’” he said.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.
