Sydsudansk maratonløber konkurrerer under det olympiske flag
Dette indlæg er en del af vores reportage om De Olympiske Lege i London 2012 [en].
(Alle links i dette indlæg er på engelsk)
Den sydsudanske atlet Guor Marial deltager i De Olympiske Lege i London 2012, men ikke under hans lands flag. Marial stiller op i legenes længste kapløb — herrernes maraton — som uafhængig løber.
Sydsudan er verdens yngste land. Det blev erklæret uafhængigt den 9. juli 2011 og er endnu ikke blevet anerkendt af den Internationale Olympiske Komité (IOC).
Martina Nicolls skrev om Guor på bloggen Feast or Famine:
“Guor Marial will run as an independent athlete in clothing without a country flag or identification. He will race under the Olympic flag. The 28-year old will compete in the marathon which takes place on August 12. Marial’s country of birth South Sudan, gained independence a year ago and is yet to form a national Olympic committee. His country of current destination is (United States of ) America. Marial, a permanent resident in America, is in the process of gaining American citizenship. However he is not yet a US citizen and cannot therefore run under the United States flag.”
Guor Marial stiller op i London til herrerne maraton. Billede lånt fra www.RunBlogRun.com
Til at begynde med opfordrede IOC Marial til at konkurrere på Sudans vegne, men han nægtede at repræsentere det land, som han flygtede fra som 15-årig. Rajib Sen skrev:
Guor Marial was born in Southern Sudan at the start of the long-drawn conflict in that country which resulted in the creation of the world’s newest country, South Sudan, only last year. Thus, it has not yet established a National Olympic Committee, so it cannot send a team to the Games which open (this) week, which leaves Marial unable to represent his own country. The IOC has suggested that he runs for Sudan, which has invited him to join their team but Marial who lost 28 members of his family in the war has refused. “I lost my family and relatives and in South Sudan two million people died,” he said by telephone from Flagstaff, Arizona, USA where he lives. “For me to just go and represent Sudan is a betrayal of my country first of all and is disrespecting my people who died for freedom.
Der er to andre atleter, som ligeledes skal konkurrere under det olympiske flag:
As many as 204 countries will be participating at the London Olympic Games opening next week. But Philipine van Aanhotl and Reginald de Windt will not be part of any of their contingents. They will compete (as) Independent Olympic participants only because they will represent no nation. They were citizens of the Netherlands Antilles of the Caribbean Islands, a country that was dissolved on 10th October 2010. Accordingly, the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee withdrew its membership of the IOC. That’s how two Olympic-standard athletes were left stranded without a country to represent.
Nick Weldon fra Runner’s World blog interviewede Marial:
If I get permission, all I can do is go there and be open-minded. You never know. But right now it’s important for me to just be there, to show the world and South Sudanese people. I am here. You are here. You are a country. You are here. Which means, next time, 2016, it’s not going to be me there alone. There are a couple of kids, when they see me this year; it’s going to motivate them. It’s going to make me happy if I can see that kind of thing happen.
Dette indlæg er en del af vores reportage om De Olympiske Lege i London 2012 [en].
