Why were there no officials at the finish line? Why didn’t they mark the fish more prominently? She was clearly confused where the official finish line was and not having any officials there made the situation more confusing. 🤷
Yes that was absolutely an aberration in my eyes as well and at least a couple of Japanese officials should have been there to indicate that she had finished the race indeed possibly even with a finishing tape.
There was one guy, sitting on a chair and not moving, not emotional, not making any hand signals. No one else. And no indication of a marathon finish line. Unless the runners had VERY clear instructions before the race on how far to run on the track, this was a real failure of the Tokyo organization.
She appears to be a true Uruguayan, with a family history in the country, Here's what Wikipedia says about her surname:
Paternain is a surname found in Uruguay. Notable people with the surname include: Gabriel Paternain, Uruguayan mathematician Miguel Paternain (1894–1970), Uruguayan bishop Julia Paternain, bronze medalist at the 2025 World Championships in the marathon.
Green card holders usually, but not always, elect to become US citizens after a few years residence in the U.S. in that case she'll be a quadruple citizen of UK/Mexico/Uruguay/USA. That's rare. There are obviously millions of dual citizens though, and fewer triple citizenships.
On the interview, Julia has more of an American accent, with a hint of British mixed in, somewhat reminiscent of Jon Gault, another dual UK/American.
It’s actually a myth that most green card holders become us citizens. There are about 10 million green card holders eligible to become citizens who haven’t applied. At any one time there are usually more people in the USA who could become citizens who choose not to than people here applying
Green card holders usually, but not always, elect to become US citizens after a few years residence in the U.S. in that case she'll be a quadruple citizen of UK/Mexico/Uruguay/USA. That's rare. There are obviously millions of dual citizens though, and fewer triple citizenships.
On the interview, Julia has more of an American accent, with a hint of British mixed in, somewhat reminiscent of Jon Gault, another dual UK/American.
It’s actually a myth that most green card holders become us citizens. There are about 10 million green card holders eligible to become citizens who haven’t applied. At any one time there are usually more people in the USA who could become citizens who choose not to than people here applying
Uruguay is not a big running country so I'm guessing she got her running culture bug from Great Britain when her father was a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University and then the United States where her father moved to take up a post at another American University.
Apparently her father is a world renown mathematics researcher and lecturer in demand all over.
Interesting that the mathematics gene was not transmitted to her marathon running daughter who studied political science at Penn State and will further her education in law school. Whatever happens I'm assuming that thanks to the background of her parents etc she will never be challenged financial-wise or have to work in a running shop to pay the bills.