With most sports on hold due to the pandemic, stories about sports can help fill the void. This story has the added benefit of timeliness as it provides a window into the complexities of civil wars and the innocent civilian victims who are part of the relentless spread of war. The issues are so overwhelming that they are only approachable through individual stories and this one will lift your heart at the same time as it will break it. It is estimated that 2 million South Sudanese were killed and the same amount displaced in the 60 years following British de-colonization. Ethnic and religious conflicts were exacerbated by the discovery of oil in the border areas between the Muslim north and traditional African south. The history is bloody, brutal and tragic. As always, it is the innocent civilians who suffer the most.

Guor Marial was one of the South Sudan Lost Boys, of which much has been written and many of whom were settled in the United States by charitable groups and NGOs. When his village was burned to the ground and 8 of his siblings were killed, his parents sent him to what they thought would be a safe place. It turned out to be a form of slavery from which there was no way out but escape. Guor spent four years in various refugee camps until 2001 when he was selected to be sent to the United States. He joined an aunt and a cousin in New Hampshire and began high school. Imagine the shock of leaving an African village, getting on a plane and landing in the US. He spoke no English at first, but excelled at sports which gave him an entree with his peers who treated him with kindness and affection.

Soon his ability as a runner became evident and the coaches began grooming him to be competitive as a sprinter. As he began to be a valued member and gained confidence and won a scholarship to Iowa State for Track and Field. He saw an opportunity to advance his career as an Olympic competitor and entered the London Olympics as a marathoner, quite a leap of physical faith. He is such a compelling presence, such a driven and gifted athlete that he was able to overcome phenomenal hurdles. When he qualified for the Olympics he refused to run for Sudan. He wanted to run for South Sudan, which had only been granted independence a year before, which was impossible. The Olympic Committee allowed him to run as a non-affiliated entry. A first in Olympic history.

When he receives his US citizenship and finally returns to South Sudan and finds his parents in a beautiful reunion. He has a dream of starting a South Sudanese Olympic Team and begins training them for the Brazil Olympics. He has become a beacon of hope for the displaced of South Sudan and refugees everywhere and he continues his work to raise up his people and bring awareness to the plight of refugees everywhere. He is now an Airman First Class in the US Air Force and is training for the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. If this man’s story does not make the case for the value of immigrants, then nothing will.