Sunday 12 August 2012

A Man Without A Country

Guor Marial

Guor Marial has a marathon to complete this weekend at the Summer Olympics, but he will be doing this with no nation to represent and no countrymen to cheer him on. 

Marial fled his home as a 9 year old in the midst of the Sudanese civil war. With great difficulty, he eventually escaped to Egypt, where he lived with an aunt and uncle. Then to New Hampshire, where he attended high school. And Iowa, where he enrolled in college. And now Arizona, where he lives, works and runs. But Marial doesn’t identify himself as American and certainly not as Sudanese.  He’s running under a white flag that features the Olympic logo.

Representing the five rings, it’s the best,” Marial said Friday. “I’m representing the whole world, basically.