S. Sudanese refugee runs without a country
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E-mail CNTV, August 4, 2012
A lone runner, officially stateless under Olympic rules, has arrived in London's Heathrow airport.
28-year-old Guor Marial, a US immigrant from South Sudan - but not a US citizen - will compete as an independent athlete running under the Olympic flag. He qualified last year while running his first-ever marathon. But he turned down an offer to run for Sudan.
He said he couldn't represent a country in which so many Sudanese have suffered, including his own family members. He fled the country as a boy, and his native South Sudan - the world's newest country - has no Olympic team.
Guor Marial, Olympic Marathon Runner, said, "It's been exciting, because you have to represent different countries and a different continent. And all the supporters, supported me from the US, the South Sudan, and all the friends all over the world. I came here because all the world came together to support me, to be able to come here. It's just for everyone."
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