Lagat, Manzano and NY’s Lomong represent US By Christopher Hunt
EUGENE, Ore. – People come to America every day to achieve a dream, a job, a white picket fence or a family or salvation. America, for nothing else, is supposed to be a country where anything can happen.
It’s a place where your neighbor, your co-worker, your friend or even your Olympic representatives, call themselves proud Americans, no matter where they were born. Lopez Lomong said he didn’t even notice it until a reporter pointed it out. Of the three men headed to the Beijing Olympics in the 1,500 meters, none were born in the United States.
Bernard Lagat, who represented Kenya in the last two Olympics, Leo Manzano, who was born in Mexico and Lomong, a Sudanese refugee who came to New York at age 16, are all naturalized citizens who went to college in the U.S.
“We all came from different places and America united us,” said Lomong, a graduate of Tully High in upstate New York and a 2007 NCAA champ at Northern Arizona. “Hey this is America. This is the land of everybody.”
All three will represent the U.S. for the first time at the Olympic Games. Lagat won the 1,500 yesterday at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in 3 minutes, 40.37 seconds. Manzano finished second in 3:40.90 and Lomong third in 3:41.00. Alan Webb finished a disappointing fifth.
The race started at a pedestrian pace until Gabe Jennings, knowing he needed to reach the ‘A’ standard of 3:39.00, bolted to the front from nearly last place to start pushing the tempo. Lagat calmly followed with Manzano riding his shoulder. It stayed that way up front until Said Ahmed elbowed his way out of a box with 450 to go that knocked Lagat into lane 3.Ahmed took over. Jennings started to crumble and Lagat moved effortlessly back into second place until he blitzed the last 150 for the win.
“My coach told me that there was no pressure, that I run with anything the race develops. The goal was to just stay out of trouble. We almost had it happen but we were able to get out of it.”
Lagat is an NCAA champ at Washington State and the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the 1,500. He won the United States first-ever gold medal in the 1,500 at the World Championships last year in Osaka, Japan after becoming a U.S. citizen. He has lived in the U.S. for 12 years and owns the American record in the 1,500 (3:29.30).
“It shows that a dream can happen in America,” he said of men’s 1,500 group. “Where else can you find this? You can’t go to Europe and find this. You can’t even find it in my home country, Kenya.”Lomong said he turned his left ankle before the semifinal Friday and couldn’t accelerate in the final stages of the race. But after getting out-kicked in the 800, he refused to give up his spot.
“My leg tried to give up on me with 500 meters to go and I thought, ‘uh oh, don’t do that,’” he said.
After race he thanked the crowd, and America.
“Because that was my dream and it finally came true,” he said.