2. As others have noted, Team USA is the toughest team to make in the world. This means our athletes are at a disadvantage because they have to gear up for both our national championships and the world championships. That’s why Joseph Fahnbulleh chooses to run for Liberia despite being born and raised in the US.
That is not why Fahnbulleh runs for Liberia and not the US.
You must have missed Gault’s excellent reflection on this year’s US championships. In that article, he included a quote from Fahnbulleh admitting the difficulty of making the US team was a factor in his choice to run for Liberia:
On a recent appearance on the Citius Mag Podcast, sprint star Joseph Fahnbulleh, who finished 5th in the Olympic 200m last year, was asked why he chose to represent Liberia instead of the United States, where he was born and raised. Fahnbulleh said one reason was to honor his mother, who was forced to leave Liberia at age 12. But his other reason was revealing. “What people don’t understand is if you don’t have trials, you’re kind of solid,” Fahnbulleh said. “USA trials? Bruh, you have to peak and then peak again [for Worlds]. That’s crazy…Not having a trials for Liberia sets me up for a longer career in life. I don’t have to peak, I don’t have to worry about if I’m going to make the team and is my contract going to get reduced if I don’t make the team.”