The Olympics roll around every couple of years in the spirit of all nations, big and small, coming together to compete in high-level athletics. For America, a nation of immigrants, this represents a unique occasion to celebrate how nations come together within our own home. This year 47 athletes of foreign origins will proudly represent Team USA. They come from 31 countries and are competing in 20 of the 27 disciplines.
Meet some of the athletes below.
Sattawat Pongnairat was born in New York City, but grew up in Bangkok. He and his badminton doubles partner Phillip Chew train at Orange County Badminton Club (OCBC). Chew has his own immigration story in the form of his grandfather, Don Chew, a badminton player who emigrated from Thailand to Southern California in 1972 and went on to build the OCBC with dreams of making badminton as big in the States as it is in Thailand. The OCBC is only the second badminton-only club in the U.S. today, and where the majority of USA Badminton Olympians have come from since 2008. The U.S. does not have an official national training center nor does it sponsor players if they have no hope for a medal in the Olympics. As a result, Don has almost single-handedly fostered and sponsored a badminton tradition in the States. The Chews hope that one day their family’s hard work will lead to Olympic gold. Pongnairat and Chew have seen success: they won the gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games. However, as they make their Olympic debut, they face stiff competition against nations such as China and Indonesia with longer badminton traditions. Their journey begins Thursday, August 11, when they face off against Chinese powerhouse team Haifeng Fu and Nan Zhang, currently ranked 4th in the world.
Enkelejda Shehaj began shooting at age 17 in hometown Tirana, Albania where shooting was a popular sport even though Albanians were not allowed to own guns. She trained with the sports pistols at her local shooting club and competed for Albania in the Olympics at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996. She also qualified for Sydney 2000, but took an opportunity to escape post-communist unrest by moving to Michigan with her young daughter on a visa. As a result, she was rejected from the Albanian national team and cut off the salary. A professional athlete her whole career, she gave shooting up and found work at a restaurant, barely scraping by for several years. With time, she met future husband Tony Bekurti, a fellow Albanian immigrant from the same neighborhood who had heard of her as one of the top ten athletes in Albania and had even played table tennis with her younger sister back in the day, but had never met Shehaj. The two started a new family. In 2009, they opened Olympia Dining restaurant in Naples, Florida, serving the gyros, soulvaki, and feta omelets they remember from their childhood. It was around this time Bekurti, sensing his wife regretted missing Sydney 2000, encouraged her to return to shooting. Little by little, she started up again, often training at the range of one of her Olympia Dining customers. She returned to international competition in 2014, and narrowly clinched a spot to Rio in April, this time as part of Team USA. She is cheered on by restaurant regulars following along back home as she takes on her unfinished business with Olympic shooting, twenty years later.
Hillary Bor, Paul Chelimo, Shadrack Kipchirchir, and Leonard Korir all come from the Rift Valley region in Kenya, where most of Kenya’s top runners are raised. The four received sports scholarships and came to the States for college. After graduating, they all ended up enlisting in the Army. There, Bor and Kipchirchir are financial management technicians, Chelimo is a water treatment specialist, and Korir is a motor transport operator. But none will be deployed unless there is an unusual situation. That’s because they are part of the military’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), a unit based in Fort Carson where soldiers collect regular pay while training for the Olympics and Paralympics. It is this unit that is sponsoring them to compete in distance running events in Rio. Chelimo, who’s competing in 5,000 meters, immediately joined the WCAP once he enlisted whereas Bor, competing as the shortest ever 3,000 meter steeplechase Olympic runner, had ended his running career after a poor final year in college, and only gradually found his way to WCAP by turning heads with his speed. The four are excited to give back to the country that has become their home by being ambassadors to both the U.S. and the Army at the biggest athletic event in the world. “ It’s not about me. It’s all about all the soldiers that sacrificed their lives and dedication and hard work. I’m not going to let them down,” Kipchirchir, competing in 10,000 meters, told NW News Network.
Immigrants have always been an important driving factor of the social and economic fabric of the United States. This summer, immigrants and foreign born citizens are continuing to proudly contribute to our nation and build a path to gold.
