by Larry Eder
We give you Somali-American long distance runner and part of Team USA Abdi Abdirahman. Taking third at the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston, TX, Abdi will be joining his fellow teammates in taking on the world at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Updated on February 13, 2012: added footage
Abdi Abdirahman lives the American dream. He is now part of his
fourth Olympic team. A most talented athlete, which is evident to all
but him. Abdi is quite humble. His friend, Bernard Lagat, told RBR two
weeks ago, ” Of course I knew he would make the team.”
Abdi had not run a marathon since 2006! He has had moments of
brilliance, such as his 27:17 for 10,000 meters. The Black Cactus, as he
is called, has a huge amount of talent. He has also had to deal with a
series of tough injuries, injuries which would have other people give
up. Not Abdi Abdirahman. The Black Cactus does not easily give up.
Nearly
six years and no marathon finish. But, the Black Cactus knew how to do
it. So, he put all distractions away, and focused. And ran, and ran, and
ran.
The key is though, when 111 other men lined up, each with a
story justifying why they should make the team, and it comes down, very
quickly to eight, then seven, then five, then four, then three, and Abdi
was third.
Gutting out the final three miles, Abdi held off, by
eight seconds, a friend, Dathan Ritzenhein, to make his fourth Olympic
team. Consider that cushion, or lack of cushion. One has to give his or
her all to make a US Olympic team.
And now, on to London 2012……
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