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Wednesday, May 03, 2000 By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Marathon world-record holder Khalid Khannouchi was sworn in as a United States citizen yesterday morning, just in time to participate in Sunday's U.S. Olympic men's marathon trials.
If he can run.
What: U.S. Olympic Team Trials -- Men's Marathon and UPMC Health System/City of Pittsburgh Marathon
Start: City-County Building
Finish: Point State Park
When: Sunday, Olympic trials begin 7:55 a.m.; wheelchair marathon, 8:45; citizens marathon, 8:50
Khannouchi, 28, will announce at a news conference this afternoon in New York whether he will compete in Sunday's race. The announcement will cap months of speculation about Khannouchi's status that began in earnest in October, when he won the Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 42 seconds and trimmed 23 seconds off the existing world record.
"I'm extremely happy that my question for U.S. citizenship has been successful," Khannouchi told The Associated Press. "I look forward to competing in national and international championship events as an American citizen."
Whether Khannouchi's life as an American runner starts Sunday depends on his ankle and if officials in his native Morocco will allow him to compete.
Khannouchi has spent the past few weeks in Ireland recovering from an ankle injury he aggravated April 16 in the London Marathon. Khannouchi's trainer, Gerard Hartmann, told NBCOlympics.com that he had advised Khannouchi not to compete for six weeks so the ankle could heal: "Khalid has had injuries that could curtail his career."
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Khannouchi's wife, Sandra, has said that the injury isn't serious, which might not matter if Khannouchi's native Morocco decides to block his participation.
International Olympic Committee rules state that an athlete must wait three years to compete for his new country unless the previous country's national Olympic committee, the sport's international governing body and the IOC agree to reduce or eliminate the waiting period.
A spokesman for the IAAF, track and field's international governing body, has said the three-year rule doesn't apply because Khannouchi last competed for Morocco in the 1993 World University Games.
But the general secretary of the Moroccan federation, Abdellatif el Jazouli, told the AP: "We have not been contacted. Nobody has asked us anything. If there is an official request, we will put it to our federal council to decide. For us, the rules must be applied. It's not up to the IAAF. It's up to the national federation."
All of the uncertainty makes life a bit difficult for the trials organizers.
Of course they will accommodate Khannouchi if he runs, but arrangements need to be made. And if he does come, organizers expect an increase in interest, particularly in media credential requests. Race director Larry Grollman is fond of saying that it takes him a year to run a marathon because of all the preparations involved, and now he and his staff may have to scramble in the final days before the race.
"We would certainly welcome his participation if he decides to come," Grollman said.
Khannouchi, who has lived in New York since he emigrated from Morocco in 1993, has been trying for nearly four years to become an American. He married an American woman, Sandra Inoa, in 1996 and applied for citizenship -- before he had ever run a marathon.
The process got delayed when the Immigration and Naturalization Service agent who interviewed Khannouchi was accused of taking bribes. Khannouchi eventually became a permanent resident in 1998, but he was not eligible to become a citizen by way of his marriage until 2001.
He received citizenship yesterday under Section 319 (b) of the immigration laws, which enables spouses of U.S. citizens working abroad to get U.S. citizenship without satisfying the three-year residency requirement. The provision was designed with spouses of U.S. military personnel in mind, but it has been used in other cases. French soccer player David Regis, for instance, received citizenship the same way in time to play for the United States in the 1998 World Cup.
"Just when Sandra and I were about to give up hope of my attaining citizenship in time for the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, Tim Murphy of Elite Racing offered Sandra a job in Madrid as an assistant elite coordinator and race promoter," Khannouchi said. "It was amazing that the events unfolded as quickly as they did.
"At the same time, my legal team was working with the INS to help me attain citizenship in time for the Olympic marathon trials, several individuals were working behind the scenes cutting through the red tape to enable my participation in the men's Olympic marathon trials."
If he runs, Khannouchi will be by far the fastest man in the trials field -- he ran three minutes slower than his personal best in London, but that time was still a minute faster that the time of top seed David Morris. The debate is whether he can run that fast three weeks after placing third at the London Marathon in 2:08:36 and on the bad ankle.
And whether he should try.
"I'll be very disappointed if he doesn't follow my advice and not race for at least six weeks," Hartmann said. "But I wouldn't like to be in his shoes. He must be in emotional turmoil. There's huge pressure on him to take part on Sunday, and it's true, he should be able to run 2:13."
Only two American men are entering the trials having achieved the Olympic A qualifying standard of 2 hours, 14 minutes, and there is concern that given the hills on the marathon course and possible high temperatures, not enough men would run fast enough for the United States to field its usual three-man team for the Olympics.
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