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Ten years ago, Weini Kelati arrived in Eugene, Oregon, for the World Junior Championships and never went home.
As a 17-year-old coming from her native Eritrea, she had ambitious plans to run a strong 3,000-meter race, but she was also intent on staying in the U.S. to escape the political oppression of the Eritrean government. She finished eighth in the race that day, but then she wound up defecting from her home country by connecting with family members in Virginia, where her running career started in earnest.
A decade later, on the night of June 29 in Eugene, the 27-year-old American runner reached her next big goal of becoming a U.S. Olympian by winning the U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000 meters in 31:41.07. Now she’ll race in the event in the Olympics on August 9 in Paris.
“It’s crazy because I get pretty emotional every time I come…
