LONDON A refugee from Sudan's civil war who became a top distance runner after moving to the United States is fighting for last-minute permission to compete in the London Olympics as an independent athlete. The world's newest country has not yet established a National Olympic Committee, however, so it cannot send a team to the Games, which open next week. South Sudan gained independence last July after a 2005 peace deal ended more than two decades of war between the mostly Christian south and Arab north. "The threats against him are serious and were recognized as such when he gained refugee status in the United States. In a marathon in San Diego, California, last month Marial ran a personal best, finishing in two hours 12 minutes 55 seconds. He has improved on that time since.
– Root for Team USA, sure, but save a spot for Guor Marial, too. The marathon runner will compete as an independent athlete—a first—and run under the Olympic flag, reports the AP. The IOC made an exception given Marial's circumstances: He was born in southern Sudan but fled to the US as a teenager amid his nation's civil war, explains Reuters. He blossomed into a gifted runner, but the Arizona resident is ineligible for the US team because he's not a full citizen. South Sudan recently became an independent country, but it doesn't yet have an Olympic team. Sudan offered Marial a spot, but he declined on principle. "I lost my family and relatives, and in South Sudan 2 million people died," he told Thomson Reuters' AlertNet. "For me to just go and represent Sudan is a betrayal of my country first of all, and is disrespecting my people who died for freedom." An IOC spokesman says Marial's is the first such exception granted.