In celebration of Meb Keflezighi’s 10 year anniversary of his 2014 Boston Marathon victory, we will be featuring a Celebration of Meb, highlighting and sharing an aspect of Meb’s life on and off the track and roads leading up to the 2024 Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15. We are thankful to both Meb and Hawi (Meb’s brother and agent) for their partnership on this feature.
Age is just a number if you learn to listen to your body and adapt to its changing needs.
Meb Keflezighi | 26 Marathons
Meb’s legacy as one of the world’s finest marathoners is known the world over. He has firmly established himself as one of the greatest Americans to ever run the distance. His first USA Olympic team appearance in 2000, however, was for a distance less than a quarter in length and over two years before he would toe the line for his first marathon. Below, we take a look back at each of Meb’s four Olympic teams.
Sydney (2000)
Meb’s first Olympics came in 2000 for the Sydney Games. Going into the Olympic Trials that year, he had considered competing in both the 5000m and 10,000m in hopes of securing a spot in one of the two events. He had not yet achieved the Olympic A Standard to qualify based on his finish at the Trials, so his goals would be two-fold: earn a finish high enough to qualify for the team and finish with a time that exceeds the Olympic Standard to compete at the Games (13:29 for 5k and 28:10 for 10k).
The 10,000m would be contested first, and Meb faced familiar rivals in Alan Culpepper and Abdi Abdirahman. Meb wrote in Run to Overcome, “The plan with Coach Larsen was to remain patient in the first 5k and then to make a move with about two miles left. That’s what I did, throwing in a 63- or 64-second quarter with eight laps left. They let me go. I couldn’t believe it.” In the final straightaway, Culpepper would catch up to Meb, but it was Keflezighi who would win with a photo finish and the Olympic A Standard in 28:03.32 to Culpepper’s 28:03.35. With this Olympic berth under his belt, Meb chose to skip the 5000m and focus on being prepared for Sydney.
Once at the Games in Australia, Meb would break 28 minutes in the 10k for the second time in his career in the semifinal, earning a place in the Olympic final. He was joined by legends in the making Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat, who had finished 1-2 in the previous Games in Atlanta (Gebrselassie setting Olympic Record at the time). In the race, Meb set a new personal record of 27:53.63, placing 12th. Gebrsellasie and Tergat once again finished in gold and silver positions.
Following the race, Meb noted, “Before I left the stadium that night, I decided the next time I went to the Olympics I wanted a medal. I was targeting 2004 and Athens. To be honest, I had no idea whether my event would be the 10,000 or the marathon.”
Athens (2004)
After having earned the Olympic qualifying standard at the Chicago Marathon in 2003, Meb’s options for the 2004 Games started to open up. The Marathon Trials were to take place in February 2004 and the 10k Trials to take place in July.
The Olympic Trials Marathon took place in Birmingham, Alabama in 2004. Already having the A Standard, Meb could focus on place rather than also chasing a time. A top-3 finish among others who also achieved the A Standard would be enough to earn a place on his second Olympic team. On a cold, windy day, Meb finished 2nd in 2:11:47 to Alan Culpepper just five seconds ahead. He was once again going to an Olympic Games.
Though he had locked up a spot for Athens in the marathon, Meb decided to race the 10,000m track and field Trials in July. He would win that race in a Trials record of 27:36.49. He now would have the opportunity to run both the marathon and 10k in Athens should he choose. After deliberation, Meb opted to focus on the marathon, eyeing his ultimate goal of coming away with an Olympic medal.
The day of the Olympic Marathon was cooler than expected, though still warm in the low-80s at starting time. It was an evening race, starting at 6pm local time. Brazil’s Vanderlei de Lima would lead much of the race and Meb was in a pack that included Italy’s Stefano Baldini. As de Lima’s lead shrunk, Meb and Baldini moved forward, eventually passing de Lima to the finish. Baldini came away with gold in 2:10:55 and Meb in second at 2:11:29. De Lima would earn bronze in 2:12:11.
Coming into the Athens Olympic Marathon, Meb had the 39th best time among the 101 runners. Leaving Athens, he was an Olympic Silver Medalist.
London (2012)
Having not made the 2008 Beijing Olympics (though the subsequent mindset would push Meb to the 2009 NYC Marathon), Meb’s next opportunity to join Team USA for an Olympic team came in 2012.
The Olympic Trials Marathon took place in Houston, Texas in January 2012. Leading into the race, Meb suffered an infection in his foot which would create challenging conditions for training in the short stretch between the 2011 NYC Marathon and the upcoming Trials. Following weeks without running due to the infection, Meb got back to training with a 30-minute run just 38 days prior to the Trials. On the day of the race, not worried about his fitness, the lone concern was for whether his foot would hold up for a 26.2 mile race against the best in the USA. Meb also encountered an unexpected challenge, as he notes in 26 Marathons, “Soon before races I take caffeine in pill form, because I don’t want to risk the stomach problems coffee can cause. In Houston I learned that caffeine pills can cause their own problem – namely, the pill can get lodged in your throat.”
Against these setbacks, Meb pushed ahead, losing fellow competitors one-by-one. He would set a new personal record and win the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2:09:02. He was going to his third Olympics.
In London, the race started rough. By the halfway point, Meb was experiencing stomach cramp, a developing blister on his foot, and found himself in 21st place. He had momentarily considered dropping out. He challenged the thoughts, noting, “What kind of lesson would that be to my daughters…what about my fans? Plus, I was wearing the USA jersey for what I thought would be the last time. I needed to represent our country to the best of my ability.” His resolution: get to the finish line, no matter what it takes.
Meb refocused and surged through the remainder of the course, passing competitors one at a time over the following 13 miles until he crossed the finish line in 4th place in 2:11:06.
Rio (2016)
The 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon took place in Los Angeles. Meb was forty years old and though he was just two years removed from his Boston Marathon victory, some were ready to count him out for a fourth Olympic berth.
Experience, maturity, and patience were the name of the game for Meb on that day. He had attended college at UCLA and had run many miles on these streets. He knew that executing his race plan would place him in contention for a top-3 finish. On a day that saw surges from various competitors among the lead group, Meb contented to keep to his plan, noting, “I reminded myself that ‘run to win’ means different things in different contexts. Here, winning meant making my fourth Olympic team at age forty. Overextending myself to cover a surge could have jeopardized that main goal.” At the end of the race, Meb finished 2nd with a time of 2:12:20, cementing his place in Rio, a fourth Olympic team berth.
Meb’s fourth and final Olympic Games in Brazil were wet and humid. Race day conditions were non-ideal, though going in, he believed his experience would give the opportunity to be in medal contention. Unfortunately, just after halfway through the race, the humidity proved to throw a wrench in his plans, causing multiple stops on the way to the finish line and a 33rd place finish. Ever the optimist, Meb wrote in 26 Marathons, “The last 10 miles were a great experience. Runners from Peru, Ecuador, South Africa and elsewhere encouraged me when they ran by during one of my stops. ‘Come on Meb’ or ‘Good job keep it going’ they would say, sometimes while moving to the side of the road to tap my on the shoulder. To have the respect of my fellow marathoners from around the world made a trying situation so much better. It felt like my peers were treating me to a global victory lap near the end of my career. I’ll cherish that experience for the rest of my life.”
Memorably, at the end of the race, Meb slipped just before the finish line. Making the best of the situation, he pulled himself to the finish and immediately did three push-ups. “I did three, one for each daughter.”
Check back each day between now and April 15 for the continuation of the 26 Days of Meb.
