Meb Keflezighi became America’s oldest Olympic marathon runner

A 167cm, 57kg man just did what no American has ever been able to do, and he’s earnt comparisons to the greatest athletes.

U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon

WHEN someone stands 167cm tall and weighs 56.7kg, chances are they’re not going to get compared to some of North America’s greatest ever sportsmen.

Unless that 56.7kg, 167cm tall person is Meb Keflezighi.

The long distance runner came second in America’s Olympic marathon trial in Los Angeles on Saturday — sealing his berth at the Rio Games later this year.

Big deal, you might think. It’s not as if he came first.

Well, it is a big deal. Not just because of his tiny build, but because of how old he was when he crossed the finish line.

Keflezighi is 40.

Actually, he’s 40 years, 286 days old to be exact. That makes him the oldest American to qualify for an Olympic marathon in history.

Running historian Ryan Lamppa told the San Diego Union-Tribune just how incredible Keflezighi’s feat was.

“It’s borderline superhuman. It’s so atypical for athletes to stay motivated, maintain the drive, enjoy the training, show up on race day and deliver,” he said.

“That is a one-in-a-million type athlete. He has that intangible ‘it’ that people talk about, like (Michael) Jordan or (Wayne) Gretzky.”

Those are some seriously impressive comparisons.

He finished the weekend’s 42km race in two hours, 12 minutes and 20 seconds — just behind 29-year-old winner Galen Rupp.

What an effort.

He reportedly dealt with cramp for much of the first 20km of the race — “I’m old,” Keflezighi later joked. “It takes me longer to loosen up” — but he pushed on so that at the 30km mark, it was a two-horse contest between himself and Rupp.

The younger competitor would ultimately prove too good, but that didn’t dent Keflezighi’s euphoria.

He put his hand to ear, encouraging the crowd to cheer him on, held his arms out and flexed his muscles as he made it to the finish line.

They were some moving scenes from a man who has already competed at the Olympics. Rio will be his fourth trip to the Games, having previously won silver in Athens in 2004.

That achievement in Greece, combined with wins in the New York City Marathon (2009) and Boston Marathon (2014) make him the only man to have won the USA’s two most prestigious marathons and also bag an Olympic medal.

“His fame, his legacy is more than those three achievements,” said Lamppa. “They were milestones. They were historic. He broke long droughts for American male marathoners.

“I think Meb is the greatest American marathoner ever.”

Immediately after the race, Keflezighi fought back tears.

“I heard, ‘USA! USA! Go, Meb, Go!’”

“This was almost a homecoming,” he said, referring to the fact that friends he went to college with at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were on the sidelines cheering him on.

He better get used to it. He’ll have plenty more people rooting for him come August when he’s running on the streets of Brazil.