Lagat did what Khannouchi wanted to do and I applaud him for it.

I like that, good work!

tigranya wrote:

Lagat has gone through the American NCAA system, payed his dues, stayed in the US, trained in the US, gained US citizenship, raced in the US, married in the US, has a house in the US, wears a US jersey, cried as he raised the flag and listened to the Star Spangled Banner representing the US, bled for the US, proud to be a US citizen, and will come back from Japan and celebrate in the US and we still question his legitimacy. What else should he do to solidify his status as an American? Make it plain so he can go to work and make you happy.

I suspect the person who posts under this name is Meb.

Whats Up MEB!!

haha...Nice compliment man, but I am not Meb. Meb is out doing a long run, getting ready for New York, and training his butt off. I'm sitting on my couch with my dog's head resting my leg, as I go back and forth from this forum to Sportscenter. I am hungry, so I may go get something to eat and come back to the couch.

Thanks for noticing the Eritrean name/dialect.

It's not complicated. To a lot of these people, you need to be born in the US to be a "American" to them. Interestingly, this completely ignores the realities of their country's foundations. Also interstingly, it is a standard that they apply differentially to immigrants from non-European nations.

The people who say "Lagat is not am American" have a legit point, but I must say that the original post is an excellent one, and I agree with it whole-heartedly. Lagat seems like a really great person to me, and I'm proud to have him representing the US and bringing back some hardware.

First, I'd like to say that Lagat is an American to me and I hate the people that say he's not. However, I think their argument more is that he competed for Kenya for so many years and was already one of the best in the world before he became a US citizen. While he did run for WSU and trained in American, it doesn't feel as though he's American trained because we are so used to seeing him in a Kenyan kit. Also, he ran for Kenya when technically he was a US citizen in 2004. No he couldn't compete for the US yet, but it would have been a good show to the country that had just taken him in if he would have sat out - which technically he was supposed to do. Though obviously it would have been a huge missed opportunity and I understand why he did what he did.

Guys like Meb, Abdi, and now Lopez never competed for the country of their birth. They've worn only one kit their entire careers and I think that makes a major difference. It feels as though those guys have payed their dues through the US system, rather than cherry pick a spot after they've been long established. If one of the Swedish or Russian mens high jumpers did the same thing Lagat did - changing countries part way through their careers, I think those people would have the same feeling.

However, this is letsrun so all those people could just be racists, or more likely just bored people looking to be a**holes and troll.

Sorry for so many mistakes. I didn't reread it nearly well enough, obviously.

Also, what tigranya said is exactly right on.

tigranya wrote:

...bled for the US...

Oh yeah, and when was this?

Otherwise spot on.

Tigranya,

these people only see things thru the world of running. They are extremely shallow minded in their thinking and reasoning skills. I wish some of Lagats naysayers would post their age and education after their posts. It might be quite revealing.

IF we were to use their logic in ANY other endeavor in life, you would instantly realize that being American means a whole lot of things besides when to win a gold medal.

For instance (and Ive said this before on some threads) how about highly qualified professionals who are trained abroad and become US citizens? Should their contributions be discounted and their achievements be called non-American? Their Nobel prizes taken away?

This is ignorance pure and simple. And the level of pure racism associated with Lagats medals is simply staggering.

To think that in this day and age a person cant legally come into a nation made up of immigrants and do something for the benefit of this country and not be called names is shameful.

The US truely does not deserve someone as wonderful, humble and talented as Lagat if this is the response he gets.

Thankfully he has more supporters than bigots on his side. If I was in Flagstaff id be at the airport to greet him.

Im used to think runners were at the higher end of the educational spectrum. Clearly not on the letsrun forum.

Grow up people. This is only RUNNING..a dumb sport in itself.

Sometime in the summer . . . Lagat's bloodly stools.

Just kidding of course.

Tommy2Nuts wrote:

This is only RUNNING..a dumb sport in itself.

Tommy the Buddhist

barf, the drunk dog wrote:

tigranya wrote:

...bled for the US...

Oh yeah, and when was this?

Otherwise spot on.