Referring To Marathon Winner As "Technically American" Has Become A Disturbing Trend [UPDATE]

It really takes a special kind of irredeemable pigheadedness to read about American marathon runner Meb Keflezighi's victory in the New York City marathon and decide that the moment calls for a display of pissy, fact-free nationalism. But that's just what CNBC's Darren Rovell has done:

It's a stunning headline: American Wins Men's NYC Marathon For First Time Since '82.

Unfortunately, it's not as good as it sounds.

Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he's not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies.

I don't know. According to the newspaper, this is what happened in the New York City marathon:

Keflezighi pointed to those U.S.A. letters as he neared the finish line, riding the roar of the Central Park crowd to become the first American man to win the race since Alberto Salazar in 1982. He did it by vanquishing two Kenyans considered the favorites, a rare feat for an American in any distance race.

And he played the lead in a huge United States resurgence: six Americans finished in the top 10, a number not seen since 1979.

"It was a great day for me and a great day for us American guys," Keflezighi said. "And I think we are only the start of it."

Keflezighi (pronounced ka-FLEZ-ghee) dropped to the ground, tears streaming down his face, when he won in his best time of 2 hours 9 minutes 15 seconds -- 41 seconds ahead of Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot, a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and one of the most accomplished marathoners in history.

Now, Rovell is just one of many ridiculous fools who have decided to step out on this "this victory didn't really count" vanguard, but my question to him is the same to everyone forming a part of that brainless mini-movement:

Story continues below

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Do you have any facts at your disposal to refute the premise that an American won the New York City marathon in 2:09:15? No? Then, hey, here's a hot sack of shut up for you!

Let's go back to some of the actual marathon story, just for a little perspective on Meb Keflezighi.

"U.S.A. gave me all the opportunities, education, sports, lifestyle," Keflezighi said. "When you dream, you dream. You don't give up."

His running career took off once his family settled here. He won four N.C.A.A. titles at U.C.L.A. and became an American citizen in 1998. He lives with his wife, Yordanos, and their two daughters in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., now, leading his fellow runners by example and inspiration.

Fun facts: Keflezighi won a silver medal -- for America -- in the 2004 Olympics, too. It counted! Old Glory flew behind him on the medal stand and everything. Also, his American teammates seem to love the guy:

"If there was one other guy in the race that I wanted to win, it was Meb," [U.S.A. marathoner Ryan] Hall said. "I've learned so much from him. I feel like he's an older brother to me, so it was really neat for him to win. Just seeing him go through those hard times and a lot of people were starting to write him off."

What Rovell seems to be struggling with here is just a guy with a name that he finds inconvenient to pronounce, something that Stephen Colbert ably parodied last night:

[WATCH]

Whether or not you're of the opinion that Meb Keflezighi has done more for his country than, say, Darren Rovell, ridiculous fool, is, I suppose, a matter of opinion.

UPDATE: Rovell has now apologized for his previous column:

I said that Keflezighi's win, the first by an American since 1982, wasn't as big as it was being made out to be because there was a difference between being an American-born product and being an American citizen. Frankly I didn't account for the fact that virtually all of Keflezighi's running experience came as a US citizen. I never said he didn't deserve to be called American.

All I was saying was that we should celebrate an American marathon champion who has completely been brought up through the American system.

This is where, I must admit, my critics made their best point. It turns out, Keflezighi moved to the United States in time to develop at every level in America. So Meb is in fact an American trained athlete and an American citizen and he should be celebrated as the American winner of the NYC Marathon. That makes a difference and makes him different from the "ringer" I accused him of being. Meb didn't deserve that comparison and I apologize for that.

That's all well and good. But all the "facts" he now accounts for having turned him around weren't exactly highly guarded mysteries, they were widely available to anyone who cared to seek them out.

I'm also still terribly confused what bearing being "brought up through the American system" of marathon running has to do with the quantifying the "Americanness" of Meb Keflezighi. Yes, Keflezighi "moved to the United States in time to develop at every level in America." What if he hadn't? What if he had trained a little bit in Eritrea? What if he had only developed at "some" levels in America? This guy complained initially that Keflezighi was only "technically" American, but it seems to me that being deemed "officially" an American runner, in his eyes, rests on a whole ton of technicalities.

RELATED:
CNBC's Rovell: NYC Marathon Winner Is Only "Technically" An American [Business Insider]

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Comments

[Will Aldrich]

This trend has got to stop. Related note: did you know that Meb lives and trains in Mammoth Lakes? he's a good egg. Congratulations to him on his victory!

[Cavil]

HP has become Technically American by constantly scrubbing opinions!
But don't worry go here and read or post without cens0rship.

http://hp-lostcomments.blogspot.com/2009/11/another-scrub.html

[earlyblue]

It was nothing more than the usual Anti-Obama republican propaganda - LIKE ALL MAINSTREAM MEDIA TODAY. Republican's don't want change, don't want reform and don't want a black man cleaning up the 30+ years of their cooking the books to favor themselves ahead of the majority of americans.

[x pat]

Ironically, Alberto Salazar, the American who won in 1982, was born in Cuba.

[alarmbell]

Americans expect immigrants to conform to American culture and blend in and adapt and be patriotic and love this country. When someone does just that, what do they do? Say he's not American. Nice.

[Cavil]

True when you say-Americans expect immigrants to conform to American culture and blend in and adapt and be patriotic and love this country.

But no one wants to see them lose their cultural heritage, have you seen the way we celebrate Cinco de Mayo? You would think we live in Mexico. That's why in NYC there's a parade to sooth any nationality.

[SethBLiNK]

I would say that nobody (or few) want to lose their cultural heritage. I wouldn't say, as you do here, that nobody wants "them" to lose their cultural heritage. A lot of people aren't particularly fond of all the multi-cultural celebrations that we have here.

[LisaLisa1234]

Good heavens.

First: in my book, someone not born here who becomes an American citizen has proven his love for the US by choosing to make it his own. Almost like the story of the adopted child being loved more because he was chosen, instead of just born into the family.

Second: according to Rovell's subsequent logic, America should take credit for foreign Olympic athletes' victories in swimming, ice skating, etc. because so many of them train right here in the US.

Bottom line: what does it matter? If Meb became a citizen the day before the marathon, then we celebrate that the best of the best chose to make his home here. Let's hope that trend continues.

[Cavil]

It's turning out to be, that technically Americans act more American that those Rovell would call (Bush, Palin ect...) true Americans.

[Berkeleylefty]

So let's take Rovell's definition of "American-training" and "Technically American" and apply it to our American men and women dieing in foreign lands... naw... I better not...

[Berkeleylefty]

Dying... sorry...

[GhostNyc]

In grade school we were all taught that America came into existence by people leaving the home land across the oceans seeking religious & political freedom, by people who for whatever reason did not fit in to their home land and wanted to make a fresh start.

How America through a set of ideals and values based on freedom and individual rights was born. Was this all a lie or have we've simply forgotten the history of where we came from? How many generations must one go back to be considered American?

There are foriegn athletes who compete under the American flag and there are foriegn born soldiers who bleed for the American flag. Arent they TRUE Americans? Individuals who by choice and respect of life, liberty and value become Americans and continue to promote all that is great in our country, exactly as our forefathers did when they left their own birth countries to build our nation today?

It seems to me that from the start of this nation, you were not an American simply by birth, you were an American by your actions and free will.

[LisaLisa1234]

Well said!

[paxtime]

Isn't Rupert Murdoch 'technically 'American. I would suggest that Meb has contributed a great deal more to his adopted country than Murdoch.

[KIVPossum]

Seems to me he's an American.

People who aren't Americans are the ones that need to use a hypen, even if they were born on US soil.

[DnDCfromChi-town]

don't you just love the United States, we love to redefine those who have already defined themselves­.....

ie, u R not Apache, Omaha, Pequot, Cherokee, Creek, Crow u r Indians/Native "americans"

do u remember this... Kunte Kinte vs. Toby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GgnkTa-g24

[1differentdrummer]

When will the move to reinstate the Articles of Confederation come again?

[gurukalehuru]

I don't care if he's American or not. I ran two marathons, quite a few years ago, and I am in awe of any human being who can do that in 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Kudos to anyone who finished in the top 500.

[jt307]

I require clarification on this matter. Is he technically American, due to the length of time he has been in the US, or due to his being born outside the US? It matters, because we may have to denounce Albert Einstein, John McCain, Alexander Hamilton, etc etc. You see where I am going.

Now if that is the case, can we extrapolate on this matter and say any American with a non Native American heritage has a certain level of technical American to them. And if a person comes from parents who are a Native American married to a technical American do the two cancel themselves out?

[Danny Washart]

I believe there are two basic arguments occurring here, so I will address them separately. Both revolve around the story, that is, the newsworthy item fit for print in a newspaper. The first involves the manipulation of the story for polarizing value through willful ignorance. The other involves what the story is for the individual reader.

[Danny Washart]

Basically, the argument is debating what the story truly means. If the headline reads "First American Since 19xx wins Marathon," why is this compelling? Perhaps the story for the reader is compelling because a US citizen of any kind hasn't won the Marathon in a while, and the greatest in the world pledges allegiance to OUR flag. We could all be proud of what an American can do. On the other hand, perhaps the story is also compelling because a man raised in the US system hasn't won in a while, and this shows that the US is a world class PRODUCER of amazing athletic talent. The US is not just a nation of overweight, lazy couch potatoes and this proves it. We could all be proud of what America can produce. If the latter were not true, the story would not be as compelling. It would not make the reader feel the US was a producer of great talent, and the headline might change to reflect it. And it might be worth noting in the article that this does not prove that America is capable of producing world class marathon talent. This is Rovell's point, and it is valid, except of course, the the man WAS produced of the US system.

[Danny Washart]

However, this is an ignorant mistake and not an egregious example of prejudice; it is not shocking that someone would suspect that a person named Keflezighi from Kenya who won the New York Marathon was brought up in the Kenyan system. Rovell does, however, display some shockingly bad journalism in simply assuming he was brought up in Kenya instead of feeling urged and curious to find out if he was or wasn't. Linkins and Rovell are both showcasing willful, obtuse, ignorance in their pieces in order to produce a more compelling and polarizing story. Rovell doesn't bother fact checking his compelling negative assessment of the achievement while Linkins ignores Rovell's valid points and reasoning featured in his apology in his compelling negative assessment of Rovell's article.
Secondly, Rovell has a valid argument about where Keflezighi developed his running abilities because it does change the significance of the story. For instance, if Lance Armstrong were to seek citizenship in another country and subsequently win the Tour de France for said country for the first time in that country's history, would it be newsworthy? Would the headline be "First Antartican wins Tour" or "American-born Lance Wins Tour for Antartica"?

[Danny Washart]

Both Linkins and Rovell have valid points. Of course, they are arguing passed each other instead of communicating or coming to rational, shared conclusions. Being that this is HuffPost, I note many commenters reveling in the chance to point out perceived prejudice while remaining as obtuse as they claim Rovell to be. So firstly, Keflezighi is an American regardless of where he was born or what his name is. And yes, Craig Ferguson is too. Some commentators are probably racially/ ethnically prejudiced and ignorant in their assessments of Keflezighi's achievement. However, Rovell has not displayed himself as one of these commentators. As he admitted, he was in error to assume Keflezighi was not brought up in the American system. Others here are probably right, that he was prejudged based upon his name, and this is wrong.

[SethBLiNK]

Your argument would make sense if he was born in Kenya, and ran their under their coaching till he was 18 or 20.

But he was born in Eritea, an African country without Kenya's history of success in the Marathon. His family left there and went to Italy and then the US.

He attended High School and College in California and is now in his 30s. He became a citizen in 1998. Just because his skin is black and his name hard to pronounce, which means that some might assume he is a product of Kenya's elite program doesn't mean that he is.

He is the first American since Salazar to win the NY Marathon, and by the way, Salazar was born in Cuba.

[Danny Washart]

You are right. I misread part of the above article when noting his country of origin and took the mistake for the fact. He was assumed brought up in the Kenyan system because of his name and because he was black and was African-born. I would still say that it is natural to suspect he was a Kenyan produced runner based on some articles which don't mention his full history. The point remains that Rovell's mistake was making the jump from suspecting to assuming. This is bad journalism and was advantageous to his article. He should have asked "Is he by chance a Kenyan born and train runner?" instead of simply assuming. It's debatable whether this is racist. I would say it's not. Just ignorant, bad journalism.