Geoff Calkins: Marathoner from South Sudan runs for more than a country - Knoxville News Sentinel

LONDON — He ran.

He ran for his life, ran away from the sun, which is how, at first, he kept track of direction.

He was scared, yes. He was an 8-year-old boy.

Running from the men. Running, and resting, and running from the men who had abducted him.

He slept in a cave. He and a friend. They ran together. They rested, then woke and ran again.

This is how he got to the Olympics. This is how he is alive to see Friday.

By running and running, before he had even heard of a marathon.

So, yes, Guor Marial is disappointed he cannot be at the Opening Ceremony Friday, that visa problems will keep him from London until next week.

But heartbroken?

No, Marial is not heartbroken.

He is an Olympian. He knows that, even from his temporary home in Arizona.

"I will feel that I am there," he said. "I will enjoy it."

The Games of the XXX Olympiad officially begin Friday, with Paul McCartney and the Queen and a parade of athletes.

Some of you love this stuff. Some of you will roll your eyes. The theatrics can be hokey and over the top. The parade of athletes can seem endless.

But the parade is where the stories are, the parade is where you find the tales of triumph, even more than the medal stand.

Two women from Saudi Arabia, for the first time in history. Amr Seoud, a sprinter from Egypt, who was among the first of the protesters in Tahrir Square. And Marial, who will be competing under the Olympic flag because his fledgling country — South Sudan — has not yet been recognized by the International Olympic Committee.

"Is it the happiest day of my life?" he said. "No, I have not seen that yet."

Spoken like a man who has seen more than most of us can imagine.

And then Marial unspools his story over the phone, barely pausing to take a breath, talking for 14 uninterrupted minutes at one point, in answer to a single question.

He was born into a bloody civil war. Taken from his family at the age of 8. Security forces came to his house, smashed his jaw with the butt of a gun. In time, he escaped, and became a refugee. He hasn't seen his parents in more than 20 years. He lost more than 28 family members in the war.

So, no, missing an Opening Ceremony is not a tragedy.

Marial, 28, came to live with a family in New Hampshire at the age of 16. At the time, he vowed never to run again. But he was fast. The gym teacher noticed. Eventually, Marial ran track at Iowa State as a middle-distance runner.

Even then, he had never even run a marathon until last fall, when he blazed the Twin Cities Marathon in 2:14:32, fast enough to qualify for the Olympics.

But what Olympic team would fit him? Marial doesn't have a U.S. passport. He got an invitation from Sudan but rejected it.

So Marial applied to run under the Olympic flag. He got approval less than a week ago. He is still scrambling to get to London.

It is not perfect, he agrees. He would like nothing better than to be marching under the Olympic flag tonight, representing — as he sees it — three separate entities.

"The United States, because it saved my life," he said.

And the millions of refugees across the world.

"And South Sudan," he said, "because it is my country."

Marial hopes that people will remember him still, or at least remember his struggle. Maybe NBC will say something. Wouldn't that be marvelous?

Like you, he awaits the start of these Games. Like you, he will be watching the ceremony on TV.

"But in my heart," he said, "I will be there."