Julia MF Paternain! 🇺🇾🥉

Watching on TV, it seemed like that was the logical place for the finish line, but I got confused around the time she got confused because there was nobody standing there. It was weird to see something like that at the end of a marathon.

Her situation is similar to Santiago Catrofe, the "Uruguayan" multiple distance record holder (sub 13:00) who moved from Uruguay to Spain, aged 4, and basically never ran a step in Uruguay.

Cynics will claim these are passports of convenience, but perfectly legal.

By the way Santiago Catrofe is a dual Spanish Uruguayan citizen and if you hear him speak Spanish he has no trace of a Uruguayan accent (similar to Argentinian accent) - obviously having lived in Spain for the past 25 years.

You're right but the combination of the physical state of having finished a marathon in torrid conditions (on the most important day of her life) and not having anyone there at the finish is really weird and you can't fault her for being confused. When you're depleted from physical exertion you cannot expect your mental state to be at its sharpest.

Maybe not. Athletics UK with their budget cuts only send athletes that will medal. Only her family had Julia on their bingo card.

I bet you have never heard Catrofe speak before, because if you did you would notice his accent is 100% uruguayan. Same goes for Paternain.

Also, check Catrofe's WA profile, you will see he has won multiple national titles and has been a south american medallist. So it's fair to say he has ran quite a few steps in his home country.

Before bashing and criticizing people, it is better to get your facts right.

Listened to this interview. Doesn't sound like a strong Uruguayan accent. I'm assuming when he speaks with his fellow country people he veers towards their accent.

He's spent most of his life in Spain, since age 4 -why would he speak like a Uruguayan? Going by Wiki page.

Perhaps more feedback needed.

A delightful story about an apparently delightful woman; one of the biggest stories of this WC.

La lucha contra el destino de Santiago Catrofe - La Bolsa del Corredor

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La lucha contra el destino de Santiago Catrofe

Alfredo Varona

En un país como Uruguay, donde el atletismo vive en un piso sin ascensor, Catrofe se ha marcado a sí mismo la amable responsabilidad de lograr algo excepcional. En Uruguay lo llaman “el uruguayo con acento español”. En España...

Open link

Proof that he speaks with a Spanish (Catalan) accent. Translation from the article: "The Uruguayan with a Spanish accent."

En Uruguay lo llaman “el uruguayo con acento español”.
En España nos referimos a él como ‘el catalán ‘, porque desde muy chico vive en Girona.

Feel free to use Google translate if necessary...

When she looked over inquisitively at the guy sitting near the finish line, he had a stoic unemotional face, which probably compounded her confusion in the moment.

Amazing result. Big congratulations to her and her entire country Uruguay.

NCAA isn’t designed for marathoners. Also, the Worlds and Olympics often see marathoners of not especially great distinction get high finishes. I assume because they take a slow-and-steady approach while some of the bigger fish go all-out and crash out.

agreed, the finish line was so weird. Several women looked confused and even she said in the post are interview she wasn't sure she was done...if she had another lap...I saw a women continuing to run and they told her to stop. Why wasn't there a banner or some sort of official finish. I ran a marathon that finished on the track and it had more flair and excitement than this. You KNEW where the finish was.

Yep, the people who are talking about knowing the course and pre-race instructions have obviously never run a hard 'thon. The brain is totally shot

Compounded by the hot and humid conditions.

As a Spaniard he doesn’t speak with an overly spanish accent, he uses Spanish lingo in a mixed Uruguay-Spanish accent. This seems expected of someone who grew up with the Uruguayan accent in the home and Spanish accent at school. His accent and lingo is a blend of the two dialects.

Marta Serrano is a Spanish athlete with a Spanish (castillian) accent for reference.

I think she sounds much more American than Jonathan Gault, even though she definitely has an accent that's much more English than American. I think Jon always sounds English, but in that Paternain interview she can sound American for a few seconds until she slips in something such as "Arizoner." To me she sounds totally American for the beginning of the interview until she says "another lap to go."

In a different Youtube clip posted by LRC, she says she moved to England when she was two. I looked up a video of her dad and he clearly has a Latin American accent when he speaks English. I've met a few South Americans who obviously learned English at a young age and have near-flawless American English accents, but they were learning English in South America, probably from American teachers at international or private schools. It's very strange to me that Julia Paternain sounds so American when she apparently lived in England from ages 2-18 before moving to the US. Maybe her mom talks in a more American way. Certainly there have been some people who move from the US to the UK (or vice versa) and pick up a bit of the accent of their new country--I'm thinking of a few of the American soccer players who played in England for a long time--but it's odd to me that she sounds as American as she does despite only living here for seven years.

Apologies for this digression to anyone who's not as much of a linguistics nerd as I am. In any case, congratulations to her on a world championship medal. It was great to see her reaction after the race.

There are people who are language chameleons depending on who their interlocutors are and she's a perfect example.