For Jewish Marathoner, Praying Fast and Steady Wins the Race
Today’s Beijing blue sky and sunshine must have prompted Deena Kastor to sigh with relief. On Sunday (Beijing time, Saturday night in the U.S.), Kastor, a Jew from Northern California who is considered America’s best female marathoner, will compete in the women’s marathon, and having won the bronze at Athens in 2004 — the first medal for an American marathoner in 20 years — she’ll want to breathe easy when she arrives at the starting line. At 35, Kastor holds the American record with her time of 2:19:36, run during her win in the 2006 London Flora marathon over 26.2 miles. In 2006, Track & Field News magazine selected Kastor as the world’s top women’s marathoner.
Kastor has made it clear that she is running for the top spot this weekend, saying, “I want a gold medal… There is nothing more I want than to see the flag being raised and the national anthem being played. I can’t think of a better gift to my country that has been so supportive of me.”
Watch Kastor talk about her path to the Olympics -her third- at the press conference following her win at the Olympic team trials in April:
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
