00:00:00

FIRST FRAME OF PICTURE

00:00:17

MALE MODERATOR

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I hope it’s all going well for you. I- (stutters) a pleasure to, um, to moderate this press conference because it’s actually an amazing, um- a great story. Um, which is why I’m not gonna try and tell it. Because it’s not my story. Obviously, it's Guor’s.

00:00:19

TITLE:

IOC MEDIA BRIEFING

MAIN PRESS CENTRE

00:00:35

MALE MODERATOR (VO) (CONT’D)

Rather, I think, than- than asking Guor to give his whole life story, I think better to take questions and answers, so let’s start with the gentleman down here on the left.

00:00:45

MALE REPORTER #1

Guor, this question is for you. What was it that inspired you or pushed you to keep fighting in order to get here?

00:00:51

MALE REPORTER #2

Can you tell us please, uh, when you actually arrived in America?

00:01:00

LEE WELLINGS

Guor, hello. Lee Wellings of Al Jazeera. When did you last see your family and will they have the chance to watch you compete?

00:01:08

MALE REPORTER #3

Um, when you were in the refugee camp, were you able to follow the Olympics at all?

00:01:12

FEMALE REPORTER #1

Have you got any plans to go back to South Sudan in the near future?

00:01:18

OPENING LOGOS/

CREDITS

00:01:23

MALE REPORTER #4

Um, I wonder if you could tell us how your relationship with ru- running has changed since your childhood and now that you’re here in the Olympics running as a marathon runner.

00:01:31

MALE REPORTER #5

And was there ever a time where, uh, running was a way of you to es- to- to focus on something else and escape from the past?

00:01:44

TITLE:

LONDON ENGLAND

00:01:44

MALE ANNOUNCER #1 (VO)

It’s the final day of the London Olympics, and it begins with the men’s marathon through the streets of Central London. A hundred five men representing sixty-seven countries about to take their twenty-six point two mile journey. So, the runner’s sent on their way, in addition to the sixty-seven nations represented by the hundred five men, there is one runner running under the International Olympic Committee flag. Guor Marial. He’s from South Sudan, a refugee. Uh, he’s had an unbelievable story.

00:02:21

MAIN TITLE:

RUNNER

00:02:38

JACOB LAGU

South Sudan is a- is a- is a region. Has been in- at war, um, for over fifty years.

00:02:43

TITLE:

JACOB LAGU

SOUTH SUDANESE ACTIVIST

00:02:48

JACOB LAGU (CONT’D)

It centers around, um, the consequences of colonialism, and the abrupt exit of the British in the nineteen fifties following World War Two. And- and this was really what started South Sudan off on the path to conflict. The fact that we had two countries with very different notions of what it was to be, uh, themselves.

00:03:15

SUDANESE MILITARY LEADER

(yells in foreign language) Left, right, left, right, left, right.

00:03:21

JACOB LAGU (VO)

Southern Sudanese very African and very traditional.

[WALLA]

00:03:29

JACOB LAGU (VO) (CONT’D)

And- and the Northerner Sudanese an Arab-centric culture…

00:03:33

VILLAGERS

(speak Arabic)

00:03:36

JACOB LAGU

And Islamic, uh, culture.

00:03:43

JACOB LAGU (VO) (CONT’D)

There was a clash of- of- of civilizations, so to speak.

[CROWD WALLA]

00:03:49

JACOB LAGU (CONT'D)

Ethnic conflict and animosity, uh, political, uh, manipulation, and a- a scramble for- for- for resources.

00:04:08

TITLE:

GUOR MADING MAKER

KNOWN AS “GUOR MARIAL”

MARATHON RUNNER

00:04:10

BILL GALLAGHER

What do you remember about your village?

00:04:17

GUOR MADING MAKER

Uh, that’s a good question.

00:04:22

TITLE:

1993

00:04:30

TITLE:

PARIANG COUNTY SOUTHERN SUDAN

00:04:34

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

It’s a beautiful land.

00:04:36

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

People cared for each other.

00:04:40

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

But unfortunately I was born into a war life.

00:04:48

TITLE:

GUOR MADING MAKER

Age 8

00:04:50

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

As a child

00:04:51

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

it’s all about war, war, war.

00:04:58

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

They abducted the children

00:04:59

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and burned down the house.

[CHAOS WALLA]

00:05:07

GUOR MADING MAKER, AGE 8 (ANIMATED)

(breathes heavily…)

00:05:09

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

You see…

00:05:09

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

You have to run to the bushes in order to hide.

00:05:13

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

That’s the only way you can save your life.

00:05:17

GUOR MADING MAKER, AGE 8 (ANIMATED)

(breathes heavily)

00:05:21

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

We spent three weeks in the forest

00:05:24

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

because of that.

00:05:27

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

By the time we come back

00:05:30

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

it was a disaster.

00:05:31

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

You could see someone in the street

00:05:32

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

in ashes.

00:05:36

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Everything was chaos

00:05:38

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

we just don’t know what’s going on and when this is going to end.

00:05:42

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

After that chaos, all of that

00:05:46

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I think my parents had come to the decision

00:05:51

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Do we want to let the child

00:05:56

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

die in front of us

00:05:58

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

or do you want to send him somewhere?

00:06:01

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

They didn’t want me to go

00:06:03

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

but they had to make a choice.

00:06:06

GUOR MADING MAKER

Yeah.

00:06:15

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I had to walk to a town called Bentiu

00:06:18

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

for a couple of days

00:06:19

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and I got there.

00:06:21

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

And that was it.

00:06:23

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

There is no one there

00:06:25

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

who can take care of me.

00:06:27

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

So, we just have to survive.

00:06:31

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

The way I would be able to survive is

00:06:33

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

to go out there and collect nuts,

00:06:36

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

collect mangoes and all of that stuff

00:06:38

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and come and sell it in the city.

00:06:40

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

That was the only way.

00:06:45

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

One weekend

00:06:46

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

we went out with a group of boys

00:06:48

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

to go and collect mangoes along the river Nile.

00:06:54

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

We ran into

00:06:56

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

a group of Messiria.

00:07:02

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

It was crazy because I knew

00:07:04

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

they were the people that came and attacked the village

00:07:07

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and we knew these are our enemy.

00:07:11

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

With their gun pointing on our face, they said

00:07:13

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

“You’re either going to get on the camel

or you die.”

00:07:21

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

We were being controlled to not talk.

00:07:25

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

They were monitoring us.

00:07:27

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

They wanted us to rob the cattle.

00:07:32

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I was there for one week.

00:07:35

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

They were going to leave next week,

00:07:37

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

that’s when we were going to be taken way to the west… Western Sudan.

00:07:42

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Somehow I ran into a kid who I know

00:07:45

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

we grew up together back in the village.

00:07:48

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I said, okay, look,

00:07:50

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

we are not going to make it back.

00:07:53

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

We are not going to see our parents again.

00:07:56

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I said, we have to escape.

00:07:58

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

How? There’s high security,

00:08:00

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

you cannot go anywhere.

00:08:03

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I said, let us meet here tomorrow morning

00:08:06

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

before the sun comes up.

00:08:11

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

We met there

00:08:12

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and we went and hide in a little cave.

00:08:16

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Once the sun comes up

00:08:17

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

we’ll be able to know the direction.

00:08:23

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

And we ran.

00:08:29

GUOR MADING MAKER, AGE 8 (ANIMATED)

(panting)

00:08:37

TITLE:

For the next four years, Guor drifted alone through southern Sudan.

00:08:42

TITLE:

He finally found his aunt and uncle in a displacement camp. Together they were selected as part of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

[WALLA]

00:08:49

TITLE:

2001

00:08:57

GUOR MADING MAKER

We left at night, July nineteenth, two thousand and one. They took us to the airport, this big airport. First time to enter into an airport. First time to get on a plane. Four A.M., we- we depart from the gate. We took off.

00:09:27

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT’D)

And we arrive in New Hampshire, and we came in the summertime when the trees’ beautiful. The smell was completely different, and all these things, you know, it’s- it’s just, “wow.” This- this is good.

00:09:28

TITLE:

CONCORD NEW HAMPSHIRE

00:09:42

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Zainab Mohagir)

I leave all my stuff

00:09:43

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Zainab Mohagir)

I leave my house. I leave everything

00:09:45

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Zainab Mohagir)

but I feel good because

00:09:49

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Zainab Mohagir)

it’s America.

00:09:49

TITLE:

ZAINAB MOHAGIR

GUOR’S AUNT

00:09:49

ZAINAB MOHAGIR

(laughs)

00:09:52

AJOK MAJAK

Yeah, as soon as I landed, I’m like, this is the last stop, I hope. I don’t have to be, you know, running again.

00:09:55

TITLE:

AJOK MAJAK

GUOR’S COUSIN

00:10:01

GUOR MADING MAKER

It was our new life. We start a new life.

00:10:07

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT’D)

And then later, school start. We’re going to high school, and that was a big shock. (chuckles)

[SCHOOL WALLA]

00:10:15

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT’D)

I was kind of like, okay, will I make friends? How am I going to make friends? I don’t know English.

00:10:25

PETE SAMUELS

I remember when I first- first met Guor. Uh, he immediately had- had this really warm presence. He was already someone. He was sort- sort of immediately a personality that everybody kind of- kinda went to, who created a- a sense, I think, a really deep sense of humility.

00:10:26

TITLE:

PETE SAMUELS

HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATE

00:10:48

ERIC BROWN

It was kind of mid-quarter, if you will, and, uh, I met this guy for the first time. Didn’t know anything about him, had a hard time communicating with him. The language barrier was, uh, challenging at the time. Uh, the class that- that I was teaching was kind of like a fitness training class, and that’s where, you know, I kinda saw this kid that was tireless going through, whether it was biking, rowing, or anything. Just had so much energy. And then when I saw him finally run, um, that’s when, you know, I saw something, you know, really special.

00:10:54

TITLE:

ERIC BROWN

GYM TEACHER

00:11:29

ERIC BROWN (CONT’D)

I asked him if he ever ran before, and he said no, and he didn’t know what track was. Um, he didn’t know you could run. It was a sport.

[WALLA]

00:11:42

GUOR MADING MAKER

That’s when he said, you know, I think you- do you know running? You can be a good runner. I said, no, I don’t. I said, I can’t. I said (indistinct), I told him, I said I cannot run because I’m working full time, and I’m going to school at full time. So, having another job, it would be suicide.

00:11:59

RUSTY COFRIN

Eric called me up at home here, and he said, listen. I said- he goes- I- I- I think I have a prospect for you. I’m like, come on, Eric. I said, I’m two weeks into the season here. This guy better be good.

00:12:01

TITLE:

RUSTY COFRIN

TRACK AND FIELD COACH

00:12:11

GUOR MADING MAKER

So, Mr. Brown came and told me next class. He said, Guor, you can go. The track coach wanted to meet with you at the track. I was kind of, what is the track? You see, back then, I thought “truck” and “track” were the same. I was kind of what the- a truck?

00:12:26

RUSTY COFRIN

And I was a pretty accomplished runner back then, and I’m waiting for Guor. And a kid shows up, and he’s got a basketball outfit on with basketball shoes. And I says, can I help you with something?

00:12:40

GUOR MADING MAKER

I said, I am Guor. And he said, okay. Are you ready to run? I said yes. To run where? He- he said, you’re going to do two miles in- in this kind of track here. 

00:12:56

RUSTY COFRIN

And I’m running with this guy, and I’m like, he’s in basketball shoes, and I was having a hard time keeping up with him. We got about, uh, six laps out of eight into it, and I said, Guor, it’s two laps to go. I said, you can do whatever you want. You can stop now if you want. I said, or you can take off.

00:13:15

GUOR MADING MAKER

Took off. (laughs)

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:13:22

RUSTY COFRIN

I did everything I could do just to try to stay- I couldn’t stay with him. And he finished. The kids were laughing. It was, like, oh, my goodness. I’ve- he beat me by about a hundred yards. And, uh, so, at the end, I said, um, can you start tomorrow?

00:13:38

GUOR MADING MAKER

Three days later, we had a- a- a race at, uh, St. Paul Invitational, and they made me anchor in the eight hundred. I didn’t know what- what is the eight hundred or how many laps.

00:13:52

TIM METCALF

When he finally figured out the distance and, like, ten, fifteen seconds ahead of everyone else, we were, like, wow. That- alright, we misjudged this. (laughs) He’s gonna be something to- to be feared. And we- I remember going home and telling my mom about him, and I was, like, this kid’s gonna be good. Like, we’re gonna have a team this year.

00:14:02

TITLE:

TIM METCALF

TEAMMATE

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:14:08

TRACK TEAM MOM #1

I don’t see Guor.

00:14:10

TRACK TEAM MOM #2

I don’t either. They’ve got him boxed in.

00:14:11

RUSTY COFRIN

Alright, Guor! Hold your ground! Come on, Gour!

00:14:13

TRACK TEAM MOM #1

(overlapping) There he is. Right up front. There he is.

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:14:20

PETE SAMUELS

He took off and was a- a star on a state level pretty immediately.

[WALLA]

00:14:33

TIM METCALF

And then, after that, it was just, like, championships, wins, so he kind of just took off from there.

00:14:40

TRACK COACH

Come on, let’s go. (indistinct)

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:14:52

RUSTY COFRIN

These guys are freezing cold. They run in their little skivvy shorts and shirts, and they still run great. It’s awesome! This is just the best weather to run in too.

00:15:03

FEMALE INTERVIEWER #1

(to Guor Mading Maker) Do you want to add?

00:15:04

GUOR MADING MAKER

Oh, no. (laughs) It’s okay.

00:15:06

FEMALE INTERVIEWER #1

(overlapping) No? (laughs)

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:15:07

AUDIENCE MEMBER

Go, Guor! I love you, Guor!

00:15:15

RUSTY COFRIN

But during that sophomore year, too, I noticed that he wasn’t eating well. He was always hungry. So, I went out and bought him- I bought a whole bunch of, uh, bars. Energy bars. He opens up the box. He goes, what are these? And I said, try one. I said, eat it. It- it’s probably really good. And he did. He had five out of the ten eaten before he left. That’s when I knew- my wife knew- it was time to step in and get this kid some, uh, some help.

00:15:46

SHIRRILL COFRIN

The running community in Concord is very close. So, pulling him into that gave him a structure that he hadn’t had before.

00:15:47

TITLE:

SHIRRILL COFRIN

WIFE OF TRACK COACH

00:15:57

CHRISTINE METCALF

There were physical issues from- from his experiences, um, before he came to the United States, and, um, lingering ones, you know, that needed some medical care.

00:16:06

TITLE:

CHRISTINE METCALF

TEAM MOTHER

00:16:08

RUSTY COFRIN

He didn’t have front teeth. We had to get his teeth fixed. From what I learned, he had them smashed out by the butt end of a gun.

00:16:20

TIM METCALF

It wasn’t until we were seniors that he opened up to some people. He didn’t talk a lot about where he came from, and I’d been running with him for three years at this point is when we started. You know, we’d go on twenty mile runs together and that’s when we started to talk about this kinda stuff. And e- eventually, it kind of dawned on me, like, man, he’s got some really deep down stuff that he- he wants to let out, but he hasn’t. He’s endured more than most people ever see in their lifetime. He’s- heck, I mean, he’s been to more places than most of us will be in our lifetime. Um, he’s seen things that we don’t even wanna see, you know, replayed on- on the nine o’clock news.

00:16:57

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #1 (VO)

In a remote corner of the world, there is a war going on.

00:17:00

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #1

Where starvation is being used as a weapon of war deliberately.

00:17:04

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #2 (VO)

It’s been a vicious war, and it’s principal victims have been not the government troops or the rebels, but those caught in between.

00:17:11

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #2 (VO)

Two million people may fall. They will die slowly, but for those who know nothing about this war, and who starve in its crossfire, the cost may be unbearably high.

00:17:16

SUDANESE CHILD

(overlapping) (cries)

00:17:27

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

My county is called Pariang County

00:17:29

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

And Pariang County

00:17:30

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

is exactly on the border of south Sudan

00:17:32

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and north Sudan.

00:17:33

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

And oil was discovered

00:17:35

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

from there.

00:17:37

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

The government would come literally

00:17:38

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

push people away

00:17:39

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and drill the oil.

00:17:41

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #3 (VO)

The discovery of oil is greeted by a country as a source of great prosperity, but in the Sudan, it has brought misery.

00:17:47

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #4 (VO)

In recent months, thousands more people have fled the area. The result, critics say, of a deliberate policy by Sudan’s government to depopulate it.

00:18:00

JACOB LAGU

We were just a source of resources. And this is the sense that us South Sudanese had. Uh, our land was important. The people on it, not so much. And we were, uh- um, second class.

00:18:16

TITLE:

1994

00:18:25

GUOR MADING MAKER

I was (indistinct). A soldier persuaded me to go with- with him to move to his house.

00:18:38

TITLE:

MUGLAD, SUDAN

00:18:41

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

He said, I am going to increase your salaries. I’m going to put you in school. I wanted to honor my dad. But then, I went there, and it turned out to be completely opposite of what the person was telling me.

00:18:42

TITLE:

200 MILES AWAY FROM GUOR’S VILLAGE

00:19:07

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

At the end of the year, I asked him, hey, I wanted to go. I want to go back. Uh, and I need the money that you promised me. He said, no. So, you have a choice. Either you work for me, or I’ll kill you. That’s when he start increasing the punishment. He locked me in the house. He tied me down in- in that small room, so I cannot go anywhere. Will I be able to- to see my family again? When were these kinds of punishment going to end? If I had something closer there, a weapon or knife or something, I would’ve end my life.

00:20:04

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

My thought was, I’d rather die running than die in this room. I believe it was kind of afternoon or so. He was at work. His wife went to the neighbor. So, I just broke down the wall, and I got out. Boom. I ran.

00:20:24

YOUNG GUOR MADING, AGE 8 (ANIMATED)

(panting)

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:20:37

GUOR MADING MAKER

I learned that my older brother, were three of us left from my mom, was killed in two thousand two. It made me powerless. I didn’t know what to do.

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:20:47

TITLE:

WITH THE DEATH OF GUOR’S BROTHER

00:20:51

TITLE:

8 OF HIS 9 SIBLINGS HAVE DIED FROM THE WAR

00:20:55

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

I think it was two days before the New England championship in cross country. I walk into my- my coach’s office in high school, and I told him. I said, it’s over. He said, what do you mean? I said, I just lost my brother. And- and I- I don’t think I will continue running.

00:21:16

RUSTY COFRIN

I said, no you’re not. You’re not going to quit. And I said, no, you’re not gonna- I’m not gonna let you do that. I said, you do- I said, you don’t see four years down the road from me. I do. I said, this is your ticket to college. You get a college degree, you go out there, and you make something out of yourself.

00:21:37

GUOR MADING MAKER

And- and he said, you- your uncle is not going to pay for your college. I’m not going to pay for your college. You’re not going to handle paying for your college. So, choose.

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:21:50

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

I walk out there. What he told me came- it went to my right ear and it got out my left ear. Didn’t go in my mind. I thought he was crazy. I thought he was not feeling the pain I was feeling. My brother died, so I cannot bring his life back. At the same time, I didn’t want to give up. So, I have to do something.

00:22:13

FEMALE ANNOUNCER #1 (VO)

We start out in box two with the Rhode Island team champions from Bishop Hendricken High School.

00:22:15

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

(overlapping) So, I went to the championship.

[CROWD WALLA]

00:22:27

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

I was running with pain and tear in my eyes. But I finished.

[AD-LIBS]

00:22:35

FEMALE ANNOUNCER #1 (VO)

In fifth place, at fifteen forty-six point four-oh, from Concord, New Hampshire, a junior, Guor Marial.

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:22:49

FEMALE ANNOUNCER #1 (VO) (CONT'D)

In fourth place…

00:22:49

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

(overlapping) I was top six in New England Championship. And I came back, and I continue.

00:23:02

COREY IHMELS

I had an assistant at Iowa State that was, uh, doing some recruiting for me. Um, and he came to the office and said, you know, I- I talked to this young man in- in New Hampshire named Guor, and I- I think he could potentially be really good. Eventually, we were, like, let’s bring him on a visit and get him on campus. Um, and I think that’s where I really got to the point where once I- once I met him, I saw that smile and getting to hear what he had to say about, um, what he wanted to accomplish in the future, you just knew this was an opportunity that it- it’s gonna change his life.

00:23:19

TITLE:

COREY IHMELS

IOWA STATE TRACK & FIELD COACH

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:23:40

COREY IHMELS (CONT'D)

That first year, we could see that, okay, we’ve got something here. You know, it’s just gonna take a little bit of time. I think the second and third year, he started to score in conference meets, started to do some great things for us in cross country, started to see, you know, that he was one of our main guys that we were gonna rely on.

00:23:55

TEAM MEMBER (VO)

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!

[WALLA]

00:23:58

GUOR MADING MAKER

Okay, I’m running, I’m running, I’m running, but something in my mind said, Olympics two thousand twelve.

00:24:06

PETE SAMUELS

Junior year, um, I- I road tripped with a couple friends to the Division One, uh, National Race in Terre Haute, Indiana, and we got to watch Guor run to All-American status. So, that was pretty special.

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:24:28

GUOR MADING MAKER

In college, my mind always, always, all the time, twenty-four seven, thinking back home. The guys and my teammate, I could laugh with them. My coach, I could laugh with him, but inside me, my heart was always on fire. You see? Because of the situation. And that is, how difficult it is when you have some people who are far away, and they are in- in a war zo- zone, and you don’t have anything to do with it, and that’s the thing. Yeah.

00:24:57

MALE REPORTER #6

This place was a thriving marketplace, full of traders and people coming around, doing their business. And now, it has been reduced to almost- to nothing. There used to be hundreds of cattle here being sold during the day every day. Traders were coming to bring things, and to take the cattle away as part of their trade. Everybody’s being pushed away in order that the oil reserve’s beneath this land may be exploited.

00:25:29

JACOB LAGU

The two sides were like two cocks who were fighting, and they were just tired, and they were like that. They’d had enough. Mm. And the only way out of it was peace deal. No one was winning.

00:25:40

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #3 (VO)

There’s a peace deal to end the civil war in Sudan, which has killed more than two million people since nineteen eighty-three. Secretary of State Powell was at the ceremony in Kenya where Sudan’s vice president and the country’s main rebel leader also signed on.

00:25:55

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #4

This coming January, the people of Sudan, Africa’s largest country, will vote on whether the nation should split in two.

00:26:04

MALE REPORTER #7

So, I want to show you something here. This is the main intersection, and that is a clock, and it’s counting down to the minute that the voting starts.

00:26:12

JACOB LAGU

It was building up, and it was excitement, It was hope, it was chance, it was aspiration. It was the fact that our own nation offered us the chance, uh, to- to hope.

00:26:26

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #5 (VO)

The vote will decide whether to draw a border between the north, where mostly Arab and Muslim people live, and the south, populated mostly by blacks who are Christian.

00:26:35

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

I drove all the way to Nebraska. We stand in the snow for seven hours to wait for vote.

00:26:42

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #5 (VO)

There was a huge turnout at one of the voting stations set up at Forty-fifth and Fort.

00:26:46

GUOR MADING MAKER

All the South Sudanese, they came from all the way from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado. All the way they drive to- that was the closest center. I- I just hope we have our own freedom. 

00:27:05

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #5

Officials say preliminary results from Southern Sudanese referendum show that more than ninety-nine percent of the voters in the south cast their ballots to secede from the north.

[CROWD WALLA]

00:27:28

GUOR MADING MAKER

I’ve never been proud like that. More proud than any other human being. (sniffs) But (indistinct). We got our independence, our own country.

00:27:44

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #6 (VO)

This is the birth of a new nation, and although beset by terrible problems, many people are optimistic that a fresh start for South Sudan is…

00:27:54

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Now it’s my turn

00:27:55

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

it’s my turn to honor them

00:27:58

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I got this chance

00:27:58

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

God brought me all the way here

00:28:01

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

it’s my turn to do great things for the country

00:28:04

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I cannot walk away from it.

00:28:07

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

That’s what makes me every single day

00:28:10

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

put the shoes on

00:28:11

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and run.

00:28:13

TITLE:

2011

[CROWD WALLA]

00:28:18

TITLE:

MINNEAPOLIS MINNESOTA

00:28:19

MALE ANNOUNCER #2

Eight o’clock means the start for the main event. Twenty-six point two miles for all the glory. Some looking to win, some looking to finish. Some even searching to find more than that.

00:28:30

BRAD POORE

For Guor, he was running his first marathon. He had a big goal. His goal was to qualify for the Olympics. You know, you don’t often hear of someone jumping from the ten K up to the marathon. It- it- it’s not particularly advisable. (chuckles)

00:28:34

TITLE:

BRAD POORE

MARATHON RUNNER

00:28:37

TITLE:

BRAD POORE

ATHLETE REPRESENTATIVE

00:28:49

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

We were warming up and stretching

00:28:51

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I said a little prayer

00:28:53

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I asked my brother

00:28:55

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and my sister

00:28:57

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

they have all passed away.

00:29:00

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

And I sad this is for you guys.

00:29:03

GUOR MADING MAKER

And, uh…

00:29:05

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I told them,

00:29:06

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

if you can let me finish this race

00:29:08

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

that’s it.

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:29:17

TITLE:

In order to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, Guor needs to finish in under 2 hours and 18 minutes.

00:29:27

GUOR MADING MAKER

First mile went out like crazy, and, uh, then they settle. Just- I start pushing the pace. You know? Pushing the pace, pushing the pace. And half way, the pace was still slow, until mile twenty. And I was ninth place at that moment, and then last eight hundred meters, I caught three guys. I was- I don’t know where that energy came from, but I was just pretty much just sprinting like crazy, and I crossed the finish line.

00:30:00

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

I thought that my watch was wrong. It was two fourteen, and I thought that that might not be right. And the race organizer, Matt, he came and hugged me. And he- he lift me up and he- he was very, very excited. He said, Guor, you just qualified. You just made the qualifying time A-standard. And I kind of went, oh man.

00:30:21

BRAD POORE

And it’s remarkable that someone who had never run a marathon, you know, would- would have that confidence and self-belief that they could just turn up at the start line and- and qualify for the Olympics. And- and that’s exactly what he did. You know, so Guor started reaching out to people in South Sudan to say, hey, you know, I- I qualified for the Olympics. I’m South Sudanese. I’d like to run.

00:30:45

MARK ADAMS

There was this guy who suddenly was doing- turning in good times in marathons and- and didn’t actually have a country that he was running for. Now, there’s kind of a problem there, because South Sudan had only just started to exist. Um, so there was no National Olympic Committee, so therefore, he couldn’t run for South Sudan. Uh, so, we were left with this problem.

00:30:46

TITLE:

LAUSANNE SWITZERLAND

00:30:55

TITLE:

MARK ADAMS

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

00:31:03

GUOR MADING MAKER

I was trying. There was no solution and stuff, so when I- uh,  Brad came in and said, you know, would you mind if I help you?

00:31:11

BRAD POORE

You know, I- I had let him know, you know, I’m happy to try and help you with this, but, you know, I- I think it’s gonna- it’s gonna cause a bit of a stir. Like, it’s- you’re not gonna get in there quietly if you’re gonna get in there.

00:31:23

GUOR MADING MAKER

He said, I know a guy who- he might- it might- he might help us.

00:31:28

TITLE:

CHICAGO ILLINOIS

00:31:31

PHIL HERSH

I had the whole story, and I said, well, you know, where does this stand with the International Olympic Committee? And- and, uh, I found that there had been work done, but it had all been based on the premise that Guor would compete for the Sudan.

00:31:34

TITLE:

PHIL HERSH

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

00:31:46

NPR HOST (VO)

Guor Marial qualified for the event, no problem there. The twenty-eight year-old marathoner is from South Sudan, a country that only gained independence a year ago. It doesn’t have a National Olympic Committee yet. So, the International Olympic Committee told Marial that he could compete at the London games if he ran for Sudan, which he doesn’t wanna do. Guor, tell us, first of all, why you don’t want to run for Sudan.

00:31:47

TITLE:

NPR: The World

July 18, 2012

00:32:10

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I came to the United States as a refugee

00:32:13

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and for me to go back and represent the Sudan

00:32:16

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

which is the country I refuged from

00:32:18

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

just seem to me not right.

00:32:21

JACOB LAGU

It was a tough decision. It- it could’ve meant the end of his Ol- Olympic dream. And for someone who had trained and- and devoted so much to this, you know, it’s a really difficult decision to make. Uh, but the choice that he took did nothing but really warm people’s hearts to Guor. Uh, amongst South Sudanese.

00:32:49

TITLE:

Sudan Refugee’s Olympic Dreams in Jeopardy

00:32:58

PHIL HERSH

In the Olympic Charter, it says that, uh, the right to participate in sport is a basic human right. And I’ve always been annoyed, uh, frustrated, and angry at the disconnect between the ideals that are expressed in the Olympic Charter, and the International Olympic Committee’s unwillingness to stand by them, enforce them, or follow them. Um, and so I said to my myself, here is a perfect, easy opportunity to the- for them to show the world that what is in that Olympic Charter actually means something. And so I wrote the story, which advocated for the morally and ethically proper and easily fulfilled stance for the IOC which- let this guy in. Let him compete as an independent Olympic athlete. And from that point on, things began to accelerate.

00:33:04

TITLE:

The practice of sport is a human right.

00:33:47

BRAD POORE

Yeah, the media- the media coverage was intense. I mean, it- it was global.

00:33:52

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #6 (VO)

Twenty-eight year old Guor Marial has been called The Man without a Country.

00:33:57

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #7 (VO)

(speaks Portuguese)

00:33:59

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #7 (VO)

(speaks Russian)

00:34:02

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #8 (VO)

(speaks Korean)

00:34:05

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #8 (VO)

(speaks French)

00:34:07

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #9 (VO)

Guor Marial says it’s the pride of South Sudan that pushes him to go further.

00:34:12

FEMALE CNN CORRESPONDENT

So, you basically outran your captors. Did you think that running would be your future?

00:34:18

GUOR MADING MAKER

(overlapping) Yes. When I left Sudan, I said I will- I will never, never run again because I thought running is only for me to save my life.

00:34:27

BRAD POORE

I remember at one point, being advised that, you know, Guor, wasn’t, you know, that- essentially, that Guor had two options. He doesn’t go to the Olympics or he goes, um, representing Sudan. And- and I remember telling that person that no. You know, there’s a third option, and that’s the one that we’re gonna take.

00:34:50

MARK ADAMS

You know, a top athlete who- who’s turning in those sorts of times needs to run at the Olympics. So, we then put together the plans that we needed, uh, at the Executive Board in London, ahead of the games, and they voted to allow Guor to- to run. He could appear under the Olympic flag rather than from a nation.

00:35:10

GUOR MARIAL

The guy called me. He said, “You are in.” (laughs) I woke up, and I was jumping around and I was jumping around! I was kinda like, wow. This is unbelievable.

00:35:24

SHIRRILL COFRIN

The phone rang, and it was Guor. And he said, Mrs. Coach… (laughs) Love that. Mrs. Coach, I’m going. And I was like, oh, Guor. That’s- I am just so proud of you. And, um, his comment back to me, which just goes right down to my toes every time I hear it. He said, um, a tree can bear no fruit without its roots. He says, and you have been my root.

00:35:53

PHIL HERSH

I called Guor, and I said, you know, you realize, Guor, that you’re gonna have to compete in essentially a white uniform, and he said to me something that I’ll- I’ll never forget. He said, doesn’t make any difference. I’ll have South Sudan in my heart.

00:36:05

TITLE:

2012

[WALLA]

00:36:12

GUOR MARIAL

I land in Heathrow airport in London, and when we landed, they opened the door. It was camera everywhere and my eyes was kinda- okay. I’m- I’m in a- I am in a different territory.

00:36:28

TITLE:

LONDON ENGLAND

00:36:31

BRAD POORE (VO)

The Olympic Village was exciting. You know, I mean, officially, we were the smallest team in Olympic history.

00:36:37

BRAD POORE

Okay, so we’ll go to breakfast now?

00:36:40

GUOR MARIAL

Yeah, man. I’m hungry.

00:36:43

BRAD POORE

You know, one athlete and one representative. You know, and you contrast that with, you know, the U.S. team or the Russian team with hundreds of, uh, athletes and representatives, and here we were, just these two guys. And it- it was- for us, it was exciting that way, you know. I mean, it- it made us different, and, you know, and it reminded us of just what we had overcome to get there.

00:37:09

JAPANESE REPORTER (VO)

My name is (indistinct) from Japan. Nice to meet you.

00:37:12

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

(overlapping) Yes.

00:37:13

JAPANESE REPORTER

Uh, what message would you like to send to your family, friends, the South Sudanese people?

00:37:21

GUOR MADING MAKER

Uh, well, I just want to tell them that, you know, I love them so much, and I’m here for them. Um, we’ll sh- sh- bring a real awareness to- to the country, and hopefully the young generation in South Sudan will see me and will be able to dream high for next, uh, years to come.

00:37:38

BRAD POORE

So, how you feeling?

00:37:39

GUOR MARIAL

Oh, not too bad. Not too bad. Feeling good.

00:37:42

BRAD POORE

Excited?

00:37:43

GUOR MARIAL

Very excited. Pumped. Nervous.

00:37:47

BRAD POORE

Yeah? (chuckles)

00:37:47

GUOR MARIAL

All, all good, though, yeah.

[WALLA]

00:37:53

BRAD POORE

Everything was stacked against him in terms of having a good race in London. It- it wasn’t settin’ up for him to go and run, you know, run a PR. I mean, you know, the stress that he had been through, both in terms of the fight to get him to the Olympics, and also the- the- the mental and emotional stress of recounting his story ha- had taken a big toll on him.

00:38:13

GUOR MARIAL

My body was low. I had low energy. There was not much but excitement was just there. I sound like- I was telling myself this is Olympic. You know? No matter how much- how tired I am, like, yeah, this is the day. These are the best of the best, and I’m competing with them.

[CROWD WALLA]

00:38:46

MALE ANNOUNCER #3 (VO)

Ryan Hall, United States. Tremendous record in Boston Marathon, particularly. And Marilson Dos Santos of Brazil, who’s won the New York Marathon, one of the great city marathons. There will be millions upon millions of people watching this race keenly.

00:38:52

TITLE:

USA

RYAN HALL

00:39:00

TITLE:

BRA

MARILSON DOS SANTOS

00:39:06

ZAINAB MOHAGIR

This day, nobody go to their work. Everybody stay in the TV, and a lot of people come to my house. A lot of people dancing, everybody happy.

[CROWD WALLA…]

00:39:37

JACOB LAGU

It’s- it’s a real sense of pride seeing a South Sudanese there. Um, I couldn’t miss it. I had to be there, I had to see it, I had to cheer. Uh, you know, I- I had to express my joy and elation at the fact that he was there.

00:39:51

MARINA AJITH

I went to the local market, I bought the material. The whole night, I was sewing the flag with my hand.

00:39:53

TITLE:

MARINA AJITH

LONDON SOUTH SUDANESE WOMAN’S ASSOCIATION

[AD-LIBS]

00:40:00

BRAD POORE

Ah, here he is. Let’s go, Guor!

00:40:03

GUOR SUPPORTER #1

Come on, Guor!

00:40:04

BRAD POORE

Looking good, Guor!

00:40:05

GUOR SUPPORTER #1

(overlapping) Come on, Guor, you’re almost done!

00:40:08

BRAD POORE

(overlapping) Well done, Guor!

00:40:08

GUOR SUPPORTER #1

You’re almost done!

00:40:11

JACOB LAGU

We all gathered on the corner, um, of the palace of Westminster. And- and we made that- that little space South Sudan for the day.

00:40:22

GUOR MARIAL

Within the first ten K into the race, completely, my- my legs was just- my body shuts- shut it down completely. I couldn't- my leg couldn’t move, so I was kinda- is it going to be the way I’m going to drop in the race?

[CROWD WALLA]

00:40:39

GUOR MARIAL (CONT'D)

But then, I came around, and there were some group of South Sudanese along the way. I saw them, almost like thirty or something, South Sudanese were on the side.

00:40:52

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

(singing)

00:40:58

GUOR MARIAL

So, I made my way out, tried to show myself to them. And I get out and I waved them. They completely almost jum- jump into the- into the road- into the course and try to- to grab me, and they were just dancing. They were just dancing.

00:41:14

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

(overlapping) (singing / chanting)

00:41:17

MARINA AJITH

And we just went wild. We were just screaming, screaming.

00:41:21

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

(continued singing / chanting)

00:41:26

MARINA AJITH

And then when he came, he was blowing kisses, and we just getting mad more about him!

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:41:36

GUOR MADING MAKER

And that one, that moment that pushed me and said no matter what, how hot or how tired I am, I’d rather walk and finish the race. I don’t care. I have to because of these people.

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:42:02

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

And I knew that if I crossed that finishing line, it’s not going to be me who crossed that finishing line. The people of South Sudan. The refugees, who I represent, all were the one I did that for them. I didn’t care about the position, I didn’t care about the time.

00:42:18

TITLE:

GUOR MARIAL

47^th Place

00:42:24

MALE INTERVIEWER #1

How did you experience this, uh, first Olympic experiences?

00:42:28

GUOR MADING MAKER

Whatever I didn’t do today, the young kids out there, in the country, they are going to do it one day for sure. There’s no question about it.

00:42:41

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Male Interviewer #1)

See you in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil?

00:42:44

GUOR MADING MAKER

I hope so.

00:42:45

JACOB LAGU

When the race ended, we weren’t ready, uh, to let it finish there. Uh, we were- we were really fired up, and we walked down, um, towards Trafalgar Square, um letting everyone know in no uncertain terms, uh, that we were South Sudanese, uh, and that South Sudan was a part of, uh, the Olympics, and our Olympian had just run a really good race.

00:43:13

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

(singing)

00:43:24

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Marina Ajith)

We are the new nation.

00:43:25

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Man #1)

What nation is it?

00:43:26

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Marina Ajith)

South Sudan

00:43:28

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Marina Ajith)

Yeah, we are one year old.

00:43:29

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Man #1)

One year old?

00:43:30

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Marina Ajith)

In July.

00:43:30

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Man #1)

Welcome to the world.

00:43:31

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Marina Ajith)

Thank you.

00:43:32

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

(continued singing / chanting)

00:43:39

MARINA AJITH

Well, you know, we- we- we want to see him. Yes, to say thank you, the feeling that he give us, the- the situation that he put us in, and we need him. We need him. Especially those days once our Sudan is falling apart, we need a person like Guor Marial. He keep us, like, oh, no, no, no, no. We still there. Our country’s still there. We can make it. Yeah. We just need him. (chuckles)

00:44:06

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTER #1

Uh, Guor, I don’t know if you’ve recovered yet, uh, from your twenty-six mile run. Uh, but we’re just recovering, those of us who had the pleasure of being there to support you, from cheering you on, huh? Across those, uh, across all those miles. And, uh, no doubt had you had the resources that, uh, those two Kenyans had, and the Ugandan had, you’d- you’d be giving them a run for their money. Right now. (chuckles)

00:44:23

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

(overlapping) (laugh)

00:44:30

MARINA AJITH

Since I- I saw him on the CNN, and then the title was “A Runner Without a Country.” It just upset me. Because that country… two million died because of that country. I say no, it’s not gonna happen. When my husband came home, I just told him, I say, okay, we are going to go on Sunday. You are gonna be there. I just went to the market, I bought the material, I sewed the flag with my hands, one for me, one for my husband and my kids.

00:44:59

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

(overlapping) (cheering)

00:45:04

MARINA AJITH

And when we went there, and when you were running, and then my kids just told me, I don’t know, Mommy, when I saw Guor were running, there was some feeling. They don’t know what that feeling was. And then I told them. I said that you are proud. That feeling is that you are proud.

00:45:24

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTER #2

May God bless you, may God bless your families, may God bless our country, South Sudan, and may you- may God give you strength to inspire so many, many, many people in the future. So, this one’s to (indistinct) Guor. Cheers!

00:45:41

SOUTH SUDANESE SUPPORTERS

Cheers! (cheering)

00:45:50

TITLE:

In 2013, Guor is granted US citizenship, allowing him to travel internationally. He decides to return home for the first time in twenty years.

00:46:00

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Bill Gallagher)

What do you think it’s going to mean to his

00:46:02

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Bill Gallagher)

Mom and Dad to see him?

00:46:04

ZAINAB MOHAGIR

Oh, my God.

00:46:09

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Zainab Mohagir)

They see their son small

00:46:11

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Zainab Mohagir)

and now he’s grown up.

00:46:15

BILL GALLAGHER (VO)

Do you remember saying goodbye to your mom and dad?

00:46:17

GUOR MADING MAKER

Yes, and my dad wasn’t happy. But at the same time, he said, okay, you know. I think that that’s the best way.

00:46:32

TITLE:

JUBA SOUTH SUDAN

00:46:51

TITLE:

MONYJOK MIAKER

GUOR’S BROTHER

00:46:55

GUOR MADING MAKER

(cries)

00:47:00

MARIAL KON

Guor! (speaks foreign language)

00:47:02

TITLE:

MARIAL KON

GUOR’S UNCLE

00:47:26

GUOR MADING MAKER

I never feel like this before, you know. It’s just- it’s just amazing. This is home, you know? There’s nothing I can- nothing like it. I’m home now, you know. So, uh, I’m thankful I have country now, and, uh, this is the flag I’m holding, basically. I hope I hold it London. I mean, in, uh, in Rio in two thousand sixteen.

00:47:48

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

Being able to go and see the family for the first time, it was kind of scary. Will I be able to recognize my family?

00:48:01

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

I was just kind of dreaming. Is it real?

[AD-LIBS]

00:48:31

TITLE:

ATHEING KON

GUOR’S MOM

00:48:53

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Atheing Kon in foreign language)

Guor, is that you?

00:48:54

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

Yeah.

00:48:54

ATHEING KON

(whimpers)

00:49:00

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

Mother.

00:49:03

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

Mother.

00:49:06

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

Please stand up.

00:49:07

GUOR MADING MAKER

(cries…)

00:49:08

ATHEING KON

(gasping) (sobs) (groans)

00:49:23

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Atheing Kon in foreign language)

Oh, my last born.

00:49:24

ATHEING KON (CONT'D)

Oh, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. (speaks foreign language)

00:49:31

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Atheing Kon in foreign language)

Oh, my last born.

00:49:33

GUOR’S RELATIVE

(speaks foreign language)

00:49:33

ATHEING KON

(breathes heavily) (whimpers)

00:49:46

GUOR MADING MAKER

My mom. My mom. (cries)

00:49:55

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Atheing Kon in foreign language)

Is this truly you, my son?

00:49:55

GUOR MADING MAKER

Yeah. Mm-hm.

00:49:58

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Atheing Kon in foreign language)

Is it really you, Guor?

00:50:00

GUOR MADING MAKER

Yeah.

00:50:00

ATHEING KON

Guor?

00:50:01

GUOR MADING MAKER

Yeah.

00:50:05

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

Yes it is me, my mother.

00:50:07

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

I am the one.

00:50:09

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

I am the one.

00:50:10

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm-hm.

00:50:11

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

I am the one.

00:50:20

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Atheing Kon in foreign language)

Sorry, you have found me wearing such ragged clothes.

00:50:22

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker in foreign language)

That is not a big problem, mother. What is important is that I found you alive.

00:50:32

TITLE:

MIADING MIAKER

GUOR’S DAD

00:50:34

SUBTITLE:

(sung by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

[Family folk hymn]

My mother you have not

given birth to me in vain

00:50:42

SUBTITLE:

(sung by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Even though I am very small and thin,

you have not birthed me in vain

00:50:53

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Monykong? (Guor’s childhood nickname)

00:50:53

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm-hm.

00:50:55

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Is it really you?

00:50:56

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Yes, father it is indeed me.

00:50:58

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Monykong?

00:50:58

GUOR MADING MAKER

Yeah.

00:51:00

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Is it truly you?

00:51:00

GUOR MADING MAKER

Yeah.

00:51:08

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Are you really my son, Monykong?

00:51:11

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Yes, it is me, father. Truly.

00:51:13

MIADING MIAKER

You!

00:51:16

MIADING MIAKER (CONT'D)

(speaks foreign language) (exhales sharply)

00:51:18

GUOR MADING MAKER

(speaks foreign language)

00:51:20

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Have you seen the cow barn?

00:51:20

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Yes, I have seen it.

00:51:24

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

So are you going to take me to the cow barn?

00:51:26

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Sure, come, come.

00:51:30

GUOR MADING MAKER

My dad trusts in me a lot. ‘Cause, yeah, he knew I would be something, you know? And, he said, you know, one day you’re going to be the leader of the house. As a young boy, so… but he had- he had- he had no choice but to let me go. Right.

00:52:01

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

Your presence here has given me so much strength

00:52:02

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm.

00:52:04

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

 and my arms feel stronger again.

00:52:06

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm-kay.

00:52:08

MIADING MIAKER

(speaks foreign language)

00:52:09

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm.

00:52:10

MIADING MIAKER

(speaks foreign language)

00:52:11

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm.

00:52:14

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

My son

00:52:16

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm-mm.

00:52:18

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

you are the only source of my hope

00:52:21

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

and now you have found me still alive

00:52:23

GUOR MADING MAKER

Mm.

00:52:24

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

everything else is over

00:52:26

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Miading Miaker in foreign language)

 and that is my last word.

00:52:29

GUOR MADING MAKER

I was sad for that long period of time. I- and I- and I thought that they did not like me. The reason they send me away at that young age. But now, I am grown man. I understood that this opportunity is going to allow me to do something so that a child in the- in the South Sudan or my child or the relatives don’t go through what I have gone through, the experience. Because I know it’s the most painful thing to live without your family.

00:53:02

GUOR MADING MAKER

(speaks foreign language)

00:53:04

ATHEING KON

(speaks foreign language)

00:53:06

GUOR MADING MAKER

Oh, okay.

00:53:07

ATHEING KON

(speaks foreign language)

00:53:08

GUOR MADING MAKER

I look back and I say, thank God. He allowed me to get through, to jump all these hurdles. You saved me, and I’m here. But I- I must keep moving. I must keep moving forward to do something.

00:53:26

SHIRRILL COFRIN

The pictures when he did see his mother… yeah, very hard. And just thinking about them now. To me, one of the most heart wrenching experiences. And as a mother, my perspective from- on that was, oh, my God, he’s got to leave her again. And yet, he knew he had to because formulating his need and his desire to help the youth of Sudan, and that was gonna be his mission.

00:53:56

GUOR MADING MAKER

Okay. One, two, three.

00:53:57

TITLE:

DORO DISPLACEMENT CAMP

[WALLA]

00:54:02

PETE SAMUELS

He had more focus than he had ever had on doing the work to help South Sudan form an Olympic committee, and an athletics program, and to really commit himself to train the next generation of South Sudanese athletes.

00:54:20

GUOR MADING MAKER

There was one kid, named Lobur. Lobur, I connect with him on the- on Facebook, and he took me to the- where they do practice of the South Sudan’s National Team.

00:54:31

TITLE:

SOUTH SUDAN ATHLETIC TEAM TRAINING CENTER

[WALLA]

00:54:43

SUDANESE COACH

One, two, three, four, five.

00:54:53

GUOR MADING MAKER

These are the kids who wanted to be the national hero by representing the country. And unfortunately, no one’s acknowledging them. They’re just training there, and they go home.

[CHILDREN WALLA]

00:55:11

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

Even when they go home, nothing to (indistinct) survive on.

00:55:21

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

These kids, I asked them why do you guys come to practice?

00:55:28

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Sudanese Athlete #1)

When you win, you do not win for yourself, but you win for the whole nation.

00:55:32

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Sudanese Athlete #2)

Yes, it’ll make me proud when I’m up there, so I wish to compete a lot

00:55:35

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Sudanese Athlete #2)

in order to raise the name of South Sudan as the new country in the world.

00:55:42

GUOR MADING MAKER

I went here with two bags, all my training clothes. So, I went there and give, give all of them to them. My brother and my relative, they were complaining wh- what- what are you doing? What are you doing? I said, I don’t care. This is my family. I have to support them.

00:55:58

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

A runner is special…

00:55:59

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

I will do everything I can for you guys.

00:56:04

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

So, and that opportunity, I don’t want just me to have it. All of you, I want you guys to have the same opportunity.

00:56:12

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

This is where we’re going to start our- our mission in South Sudan.

00:56:23

UNHCR WORKER

I know you all have, uh, a lot of questions, so first of all, I’ll ask Guor just to say a few words, and then we’ll open up the floor, uh, to all of you, so Guor? Thank you.

00:56:34

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I believe that sport can be a bridge

00:56:36

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

to unite the ten states of South Sudan.

00:56:39

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I’m looking forward to meet with the sport authorities

00:56:42

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

in the country

00:56:44

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

to see how we can work together

00:56:46

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

to have a South Sudanese Team at the 2016 Olympics

00:56:50

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

in Rio, Brazil.

00:56:53

TITLE:

2015

00:56:55

TITLE:

In order for Guor to run for South Sudan at the Rio Olympics in 2016, South Sudan needs an official Olympic Committee.

00:56:58

TITLE:

Also, Guor needs to run a qualifying marathon in under 2 hours and 19 minutes.

00:56:04

TITLE:

BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS

00:57:05

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

My next race is very important.

[WALLA]

00:57:11

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

It’s going to give me opportunity to go to the Olympics. It’s a ticket. It’s my ticket. Yes, Olympics is a dream, but if you don’t have a ticket, you cannot go.

[WALLA]

00:57:27

TITLE:

15 MONTHS LEFT

TO QUALIFY FOR RIO

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:57:46

TITLE:

Guor Mading Maker

00:57:53

COREY IHMELS

Any time you get to the top of the mountain, it’s really hard to recreate that and get back there. And I think it’s complicated with Guor too, because I think everything Guor’s done, he’s worked hard and got his reward. So, if I can work even harder in running, I’ll get even better. And that’s not always the case in distance running. Sometimes, less is more.

00:58:14

TITLE:

Guor Mading Maker

[CHEERING WALLA]

00:58:25

TITLE:

Guor Mading Maker

00:58:25

GUOR MADING MAKER

I tried my best, but it was just within ten K, I was completely out of it .

00:58:29

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

(breathes heavily)

00:58:32

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

I got injured.

00:59:02

GUOR MADING MAKER

I’m going to Kenya to continue on my training for the Olympic two thousand sixteen. I hope to- to bring South Sudanese runners, uh, with me to Kenya. And so when two thousand sixteen comes around, they will be ready to represent the country.

00:59:17

TITLE:

KAPTAGAT KENYA

00:59:26

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #9 (VO)

The training sessions are gathering momentum day by day. What captures my attention, though, is this group of athletes who may easily be mistaken for Kenyans, but no, they hail from Africa’s youngest nation, South Sudan.

00:59:43

GUOR MADING MAKER

Running with the group is- it’s the most important thing as a distant runner to have the people who are faster than you where they can motivate you, by working in with the- the best of the best in the world. This program, if I follow specifically and correctly, and do everything else that I’m supposed to do, then most likely, I will- I will be, like, I will reach my potential.

01:00:13

OLIVIER NIAMKEY

We start reading stories about him trying to qualify from- for Rio, and we heard about the fact that he was, uh- uh, struggling a little bit financially to- to cover the cost, uh, linked to the- to the Olympic qualification. As you know, you need to participate in different races. Uh, you need to travel the world which is very, very expensive. And we have a program of- of a scholarship which is to support athletes trying to qualify. He really said that he would do anything to qualify for Rio, and, um, this is where we thought that probably we could start helping him. So, we had to establish a procedure with him, but we don’t want to- to sponsor him directly without having nobody in South Sudan being aware. So, we obviously talked to the Federation and made sure that the- the National Federation was supporting this. 

01:00:20

TITLE:

OLIVIER NIAMKEY

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

01:00:31

GUOR MADING MAKER

(overlapping) (breathes heavily)

01:01:04

BRAD POORE

My understanding from what I’ve seen and heard and read, is that he was grant- Guor was granted a scholarship by the International Olympic Committee. And, you know, it was his understanding that that money was supposed to be entirely for his training. Um, and the- the National Federation in South Sudan had a different interpretation of that.

01:01:33

GUOR MADING MAKER

(VO)

(on video call) Okay, this is a message. Can you see it clearly? It’s hard to see.

01:01:41

BILL GALLAGHER

(overlapping) I cannot. Can you- can you read it to us?

01:01:43

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

This is what I said:

01:01:45

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

it is not

01:01:46

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

the first time IOC give out a scholarship to the athletes

01:01:49

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

and never has any federation interfered.

01:01:53

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Also, I will not direct this funding

01:01:57

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

to the South Sudan Federation

01:01:59

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

This is his response:

01:02:00

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

“Your message is not acceptable.

01:02:05

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

We are the concerned authority.

01:02:08

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

If you can get any scholarship without my acceptance, let me know.

01:02:15

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

It seems you are challenging me.”

-Kamal.

01:02:20

TITLE:

JUBA SOUTH SUDAN

01:02:22

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

Yesterday there was a phone conversation

01:02:25

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

between me and Mr. Guor.

01:02:26

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

And after the conversation

01:02:28

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

I called for an emergency meeting

01:02:31

KAMAL JOHN AKOL

For our, uh, technical committees.

01:02:31

TITLE:

KAMAL JOHN AKOL

SOUTH SUDAN ATHLETIC FEDERATION

01:02:35

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

And we have discussed what is going on.

01:02:39

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

The technical committee decided in the meeting

01:02:42

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

- and it was an official meeting by the way -

01:02:45

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

the quorum was complete.

01:02:48

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

They have decided to suspend his activities.

01:02:52

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

internally and externally

01:02:55

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Kamal John Akol)

until further notice.

01:03:05

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I think that is what they see in me – as a threat

01:03:09

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I have been easy on them.

01:03:10

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

But at this time, no easy.

01:03:13

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

And I’m going through it.

01:03:15

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I am willing to die, Bill.

01:03:18

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I am not backing down.

01:03:19

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I have come too far.

01:03:20

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I am not backing down and I am pushing it

01:03:22

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

until the last minute.

01:03:24

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

If they kill me –

01:03:25

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

that’s fine.

01:03:26

MARINA AJITH

The Athletics Federation was- they wanted the funding to come to them, and then they can give it to Guor Marial, but I thank God that didn’t happen. Because Guor Marial would never get anything. The corruption was very high, pe- people are just thinking about how to get more money. But Guor Marial was thinking about how to make South Sudanese proud, and he give us that feeling.

01:03:52

TITLE:

inside

the games

January 7, 2015

IOC investigating

suspension of South Sudan

marathon runner

01:03:52

OLIVIER NIAMKEY (VO)

It’s true that at some point, we were a little bit worried about how it would go because our aim was to help. And, uh, it became a conflictive situation with distracting him from- from his training.

01:04:13

TITLE:

GLOBAL SPORTS TRAINING CAMP

01:04:17

GUOR MADING MAKER

I struggled a lot when I went to Kenya. Was it change of climate or diet or something, like, is it something, uh-- I had a hard time to understand what was the problem.

[AD-LIBS]

01:04:29

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

I was weak. My muscle were just all shaking and I sometimes sweat and all of that. But when I- I went to the doctor and they checked my blood level, they check all these- pretty much everything in my body. They found everything was okay except my, uh, hemoglobin was very, very low.

01:04:47

BILL GALLAGHER

Did you have malaria?

01:04:50

GUOR MADING MAKER

They said I had malaria, but…

01:04:52

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I think it was typhoid.

01:04:54

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

Yeah.

01:04:59

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

So, I was very, very weak every time I tried to train. I just hang on for daily and try to push myself and all of that, it was just- was just not working.

01:05:10

TITLE:

Due to pressure from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the South Sudan Athletic Federation lifted Guor’s suspension.

01:05:17

TITLE:

Seven months later, the IOC met to vote on the creation of an official Olympic Committee for South Sudan.

01:05:23

THOMAS BACH

And now we, uh, move on to another very important point of, uh, our agenda. And this is, uh, the point number twelve, the recognition of a National Olympic Committee and, uh, here I, uh, ask, uh, Mr. Pere Miro to present to us the, uh, case of, uh, South Su- Sudan. Mr. Miro.

01:05:27

TITLE:

Dey Dey

800 meters

John Nyok

10,000 meters

David Gonji

5,000 meters

01:05:50

PERE MIRO

Thank you, I thank you, Mr. President. Well, you know that, uh, South Sudan is called actually the newest country of the world. Uh, in fact, South Sudan as country gained independence only in twenty eleven. But, uh, let’s say the situation of the country since independence has not been easy. It has not been easy because since twenty thirteen, at least, they have a really, a very important political crisis with very close to let’s say internal war. But during all this time, you can be sure that we have not forgotten the athletes.

01:06:07

TITLE:

Pere MIRÓ

01:06:27

H.H. SHEIK AHMAD AL-FAHAD AL-SABAH

Before we encourage people to approve them, we have to apologize to them that we cannot work with them in the last three years when they have the difficult time. But never too late. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you, Pere Miro. I encourage my colleague here to approve, uh, South Sudan as the two-oh-six member in the National Olympic Committees. Thank you very much.

01:06:52

THOMAS BACH

Thank you, very much. Uh, other questions? No? Then, uh, on behalf of, uh, all the IOC member and the Olympic Movement, I would like to officially welcome the newest member of our Olympic family, the National Olympic Committee of, uh, South Sudan.

01:07:09

GUOR MADING MAKER

(overlapping) (laughs)

01:07:10

JOHN NYOK

Congratulations, man.

01:07:11

THOMAS BACH

Congratulations on becoming our two hundred and sixth member.

01:07:12

GUOR MADING MAKER

(overlapping) (laughs) Oh, my God. We have been working hard.

01:07:17

THOMAS BACH

I would also like to thank the Sudanese National Olympic Committee who has been a real partner/friend to their South Sudanese neighbors. And I would like to invite the president of the…

01:07:36

TITLE:

FLAGSTAFF ARIZONA

01:07:41

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

Right now, I am preparing for Ottawa Marathon.

01:07:52

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

It is my last chance.

01:07:59

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO) (CONT'D)

The more I struggle, the more it push me, actually, to- to be more determined than I have been before.

01:08:16

TITLE:

06

WEEKS LEFT

TO QUALIFY FOR RIO

01:08:22

TITLE:

OTTAWA CANADA

[CROWD / CHEERING WALLA]

01:08:46

MALE REPORTER #8 (VO)

We’re also following some of the athletes who are participating in this event as a- a last shot at Rio Olympics. And one of those is Guor Maker of South Sudan, who is trying to achieve a two-nineteen in order to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

01:09:03

TITLE:

MILE

13

OF

26.2

01:09:07

MARINA AJITH

He got something special in him, and we pray every day for God to let him qualify.

01:09:16

COREY IHMELS

You know, he’s had the weight of his country on his shoulders for how long? And now, all of a sudden, can he get that weight off his shoulders?

01:09:24

TITLE:

MILE

17

ON PACE

TO QUALIFY

01:09:29

BYSTANDER #1

Alright, come on!

[CHEERING WALLA]

01:09:39

BYSTANDER #2

Guor! Woo!

01:09:41

BYSTANDER #3

Let’s go, let’s go!

01:09:43

GUOR SUPPORTER #2

Wait, wait, wait, wait. (to Bystander #3) Hey! Have the other runners go this- gone this way?

01:09:49

BYSTANDER #3

Uh, no.

01:09:50

GUOR SUPPORTER #2

No? He’s the first?

01:09:52

BYSTANDER #2

He’s the first!

01:09:52

GUOR SUPPORTER #3

(overlapping) We’re supposed to be going that way.

01:09:53

GUOR SUPPORTER #2

Guor’s supposed to be going that way.

01:09:57

GUOR SUPPORTER #3

How did that happen?

01:09:58

GUOR SUPPORTER #2

I don’t know, but we gotta let him know.

01:10:01

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Supporter #2)

Guor!

01:10:02

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Supporter #2)

Wrong way! Wrong way!

01:10:04

GUOR SUPPORTER #2

Sorry, sorry.

01:10:07

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

What?

01:10:07

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Supporter #2)

Wrong way.

01:10:12

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Supporter #3)

When you came over the bridge, you were supposed to go that way.

01:10:14

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Now I lost the time!

01:10:18

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Where can I turn off?

01:10:19

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

Where is it?

01:10:21

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Supporter #2)

Back there.

01:10:22

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Supporter #2)

Do you want to give him a ride to there?

01:10:23

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Supporter #2)

This is crazy!

01:10:28

TITLE:

Guor ran nearly 3 miles off course.

01:10:31

TITLE:

He missed the qualifying time by almost 10 minutes.

[CHEERING WALLA]

01:10:41

JOHN HALVORSEN

It sounds to me like there was some confusion at the point where we have the half marathon and the marathon courses, uh, split apart. It’s- it’s a terrible, terrible unfortunate incident.

01:10:47

TITLE:

JOHN HALVORSEN

OTTAWA MARATHON

01:11:08

FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR #10

Today, we have a report from South Sudan. Two years after independence in twenty-eleven, a civil war started.

01:11:18

MALE NEWS ANCHOR #10 (VO)

The fighting began in the capital, Juba, in December twenty-thirteen, when President Salva Kiir accused his sect deputy, Riek Machar, of planning a coup. It has served to split South Sudan along ethnic lines. Broadly speaking, the Dinka communities supporting Kiir, and the Nuer backing Machar.

01:11:37

MALE TV GUEST (VO)

But who are the perpetrators?

01:11:40

FEMALE TV GUEST

You know, our leaders are using the name of their crimes in order for them to cling to power.

01:11:45

SOLDIER #1

(hollers)

01:11:46

JACOB LAGU

Some of these Southern Sudanese brothers, especially those who stayed behind, have known nothing but war. They’ve been deeply traumatized by war. Communities have suffered at the hands of other South Sudanese communities. I mean, South Sudan fought South Sudan as much as it fought North Sudan during the war of independence and liberation. And people weren’t quite ready to let go of the hurt, um, that we had caused each other.

01:12:17

SOLDIER #2

(shouts indistinctly)

01:12:23

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

(on video message) I am here today to send a simple message to all of you. We’re once again fighting against one another. We have (indistinct) tribes and when different in strength, all this strength, our power. So, instead of eliminating one another, we should be using one another to build the country in a peaceful way.

01:12:47

SOUTH SUDANESE WORKERS

(sing in foreign language)

01:12:56

GUOR MADING MAKER (VO)

I want your next generation to be happy, to care one another, to grow ahead as one South Sudanese.

01:13:05

SOUTH SUDANESE MEN

(speak in foreign language)

01:13:09

TITLE:

GOLD COAST AIRPORT

MARATHON

01:13:09

MALE ANNOUNCER #4 (VO)

Away in the twenty-sixteen Gold Coast Airport Marathon. And they are underway. Thousands and thousands of runners, and today is pretty much the last day. Uh, entries or- or qualifying period ends tomorrow on Monday, so a lot of these runners have really come here, packed their bags, and hoping to be able to qualify for their respective Olympic teams.

01:13:12

TITLE:

GOLD COAST AUSTRALIA

01:13:16

TITLE:

01 DAY LEFT

TO QUALIFY FOR RIO

01:13:40

JACOB LAGU

If there’s one thing that unifies a fractious country like South Sudan, it’s sporting heroes. It’ll happen with Guor.

01:13:54

JACOB LAGU (CONT'D)

He will be a unifying figure for South Sudan, and his success will be our success.

01:14:14

JACOB LAGU (CONT'D)

We’re all the victims of- of- of circumstance. Some choose to dwell too much on that, let it become who they are. And- and they give up.

01:14:28

TITLE:

MILE

9

OF

26.2

01:14:33

JACOB LAGU (CONT'D)

Guor represents something that- that is in direct opposite to that. He has suffered. He- he- he has taken all of that hurt, and he’s redirected it to positive energies.

01:14:49

TITLE:

MILE

14

ON PACE

TO QUALIFY

01:14:51

JACOB LAGU (VO) (CONT'D)

He said, what can I do? It cannot get worse. So, how good can it get?

01:15:14

TITLE:

MILE

18

ON PACE

TO QUALIFY

01:15:29

GUOR SUPPORTER #4

Whoa, slow down.

01:15:46

GUOR SUPPORTER #4

Yep, (indistinct)

01:15:52

BYSTANDER #4

Come on, man!

01:15:59

BYSTANDER #4 (CONT'D)

You can do it!

01:15:59

BYSTANDER #5

You’re alright!

01:16:00

BYSTANDER #4

Good job!

[CHEERING WALLA]

01:16:42

GUOR SUPPORTER #4

You need help?

01:16:45

BYSTANDER #6

Keep going!

[CHEERING WALLA]

01:16:53

TITLE:

MILE

22

ON PACE

TO QUALIFY

01:17:45

TITLE:

MILE

24.5

01:18:07

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I said thank you God

01:18:10

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

I had this opportunity

01:18:13

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

but your mission is not

01:18:15

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Guor Mading Maker)

yet accomplished.

01:18:37

GUOR MADING MAKER

I question a lot. I did question myself a lot because I have gone through a lot. Financially, issues. Because me- I’m- I’m holding myself as- as- as a professional runner. At same time, I’m not getting anything from it. And also, I am not getting a- a full time job or work in the real world to even make a living. I’m just kind of in the between. I went to grad school, I got a good degrees. If I could have gotten a job, my family would be living in a happy, happy life right now. But they’re still poor as we’re speaking. They still struggle. My dad was ill. All of this one. My dad was sick, my mom was sick, I lost my uncle, I don’t have a job. My mind was almost to explode. And you know what? Enough is enough. I wanted to help my family.

01:19:41

TITLE:

Guor returns to Arizona to become a driver for Uber.

01:20:15

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Pere Miro)

He’s an exemplar athlete.

01:20:18

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Pere Miro)

He’s representative of a series of values,

01:20:20

SUBTITLE:

(spoken by Pere Miro)

and because he has done an extraordinary effort

01:20:23

PERE MIRO

…we thought that it was, uh, very important to deliver one invitation to Guor to take part in the games.

01:20:24

TITLE:

PERE MIRO

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPICS COMMITTEE

01:20:32

TITLE:

Olympic Games Rio 2016 – South Sudan athlete participation

01:20:36

TITLE:

the IOC has granted the exceptional opportunity

01:20:40

TITLE:

to make one (1) additional quota place

01:20:41

TITLE:

available for Guor Marial to compete in Rio.

01:20:46

TITLE:

RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL

01:21:02

OLYMPIC ANNOUNCER (VO)

Ladies and gentlemen, the great moment has arrived. They have traveled from all the corners of the earth and have spent a lifetime training for this moment. Please welcome the athletes of the Games of the Thirty-First Olympics.

[CHEERING WALLA]

01:21:25

TITLE:

SOUTH AFRICA

01:21:51

TITLE:

SOUTH SUDAN

01:21:58

TITLE:

SOUTH SUDANESE REFUGEE CAMP

KAKUMA, KENYA

[CHEERING WALLA]

01:22:26

GUOR MADING MAKER

I struggle so much to be able to come this far is amazing, so…

01:22:37

GUOR MADING MAKER (CONT'D)

I guess wait for Sunday. See what I can do. But I just want- I thank God. I’m here. We made it. It was a long journey.