Run Soldier Run! From Kenya to US to Rio Olympics

Published by Voice of America on July 19, 2016

Among the athletes representing the United States at the upcoming Rio Olympics in Brazil will be several new Americans - and they are soldiers in the U.S. Army.

Military service provides a fast-track to U.S. citizenship, and not just for soldier-athletes. Normally, a green card holder has to wait five years to apply to naturalize. But after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Congress voted to allow immigrants in the military to apply as soon as they wanted.

Because of this, Kenyan-born soldiers Paul Chelimo, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Leonard Korir could, and did, receive citizenship quickly - in time to compete for a spot on this year's U.S. Olympic team.