I was arrested by the interview with Nijel Amos linked on the front page:
http://www.iaaf.org/news/series/nijel-amos-800m-botswana1
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Amos had no toys as a child; he played with old, discarded shoes. The first thing he could afford to purchase for himself was a t-shirt at a meet in Rabat. Like many other Botswanans, he subsisted primarily on maize porridge.
Although he does not discuss it in the interview, I would not be surprised to learn that he had to scrounge for second-hand shoes and gear for most of his early running career.
Meanwhile, affluent white kids in the US think nothing of dropping hundreds of dollars on the latest trainers, spikes, and flashy apparel. We have drawers filled with running gear; I'd bet Amos owned only a single sweatsuit for much of his early career.
Don't individuals like Amos - talented, hungry, desperately hard-working athletes who will stop at nothing to improve themselves through running - deserve all of the material things we have more than we mediocre American athletes do? Is it not terribly unjust that a weekend warrior, 2-hour half-marathoner can shell out $80 for Tracksmith shorts, while the truly talented and deserving African athletes go without?
What the heck are we doing here? We don't deserve any of this...