USA’s Olympic team is bolstered by a crucial group of athletes: immigrants

a World Judo bronze medalist from Cuba who returned to the sport after moving to America. The son of a pioneer in the new Olympic sport of breaking who came to the U.S. after a grueling journey through the desert. Basketball and track and field athletes who came to the U.S. for college and professional sports and decided to represent their new country internationally.

A lot of the 594 athletes Those selected for the U.S. Olympic team this summer are immigrants or children of immigrants. They have all chosen to represent a country in the grip of a movement that would limit their ability to enter or remain there, even through legal means.

An analysis by George Mason University’s Institute for Immigration Research found that 3.7% of athletes This year’s U.S. Olympic team members are foreign-born, with more than 7 percent being children of immigrants or second-generation immigrants.

Some athletes come to the U.S. specifically for the sport and then become citizens. That’s a common path in track and field — Leonard Korir is one of many African distance runners who have come to the U.S. for college and ended up representing his new country. In Korir’s case, his national service isn’t limited to the track; he’s also joined the US Army.

But even in a sport like basketball, long dominated by American athletes, immigrants can show up on the roster. Joel Embiid was born and raised in Cameroon before coming to the US as a high school student to pursue a basketball career.

Other foreign-born athletes have joined Team USA for a variety of reasons, from athletic opportunities to terrifying escapes from dangerous situations in their native countries:

Abdihamid Nur (athletics): The long-distance runner was born in Somaliabut his family didn’t stay there much longer after his birth. They fled to Kenya, then lived in Egypt for a few years before coming to the US.

Maria Laborde (judo): Many American sports have athletes who left Cuba in search of greater opportunities in life and sport, and judo is no exception. Laborde won a bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships while competing for Cuba. But at another competition later that year in Mexico, Laborde left the Cuban delegation and asylum soughtcausing her to give up her likely participation in the 2016 Olympics, along with everything she knew from home.

Weini Kelati (athletics): Hayward Field in Oregon is a legendary venue in track and field and one that will always have a special meaning for Kelati. After representing Eritrea at the World Junior Championships in Hayward in 2014, asylum sought. She moved to Virginia, got a scholarship to the University of New Mexico, and received her citizenship just before the 2021 Olympic trials – held at Hayward Field. She didn’t make the team that year, but she returned to Hayward for this year’s trials and won an exciting 10,000m race in which the lead changed hands several times on the final lap.

Steffen Peters (equestrian sports): When the dressage specialist failed to obtain his citizenship in time to compete for the U.S. at the 1992 Olympics, U.S. team official Fiona Baan made what, in retrospect, is one of the understatements of the 20th century: the los angeles times“He’s a young guy and I’m sure we’ll see him again in the future.” This summer, at the age of 59, Peters competed in his sixth Olympic Games.

Beiwen Zhang (badminton): Born in China and also represented Singapore internationally before moving to the US and continuing a career that has seen her reach the top 10 worldwide several times in recent years.

Some athletes’ parents came to the US as refugees

Naomi Girma (football), Ethiopia: In 1977, a repressive regime took over Ethiopia, leading to civil war and famine. Girma Aweke, then a teenager, joined a secret opposition movement until conditions deteriorated so bad that at one point he fled being dependent on a family of strangers who cared for him when he was sick with malaria, and eventually arrived in Sudan, where he was selected for a resettlement program that took him to San Francisco. He worked in restaurants, paid his way through college, and married a fellow Ethiopian. Their daughter, Naomi Girmainherited her father’s property love for football and became one of the most reliable central defenders in the game. She was ranked 36th in The Guardian’s most recent list of the 100 best female footballers in the world.

Yared Nuguse (athletics), Ethiopia: Alem Nuguse was a teacher in Ethiopia in the early 1980s until he was imprisoned. After his release, he followed a similar path as Girma Aweke, on the way to Sudan and went on to the United States, where he married someone from the same region of Ethiopia. Their son, Yared, went to Tokyo in 2021, but had to withdraw from the Games with a quadriceps injury. He returns as a medal contender, currently ranked second in the world on the 1500m.

Victor Montalvo (interrupting), Mexico: Victor and Hector Bermudez were leading breakdancers in Mexico who Escaped poverty and gang violence by hiking through the Chihuahuan desert. A few years later, after settling in the United States, they showed their kids a few moves. Victor’s son, Victor Montalvo, was so inspired that he became one of the best in the world and won the 2002 World Games competition and the 2023 World Championship.

Lilia Vu (golf), Vietnam: Vu’s grandfather, Dinh Du, spent months working on a makeshift boat to bring his family and dozens of others from Vietnam. Just as the boat began to leak, Du’s flares attracted the attention of a US Navy ship, which rescued everyone on board.