Three qualify for Beijing

BOSTON -- Magdalena Lewy Boulet was the only one of the three new Olympic marathon team members dressed in something that reflected what they had done Sunday, earning the right to wear a jacket with a patch that said, “USA Beijing.”

It was a fashion statement in more than one sense.

It said Lewy Boulet had finished second in the 2008 U.S. Olympic marathon trials without the financial support of a sponsor like those whose logos race winner Deena Kastor and third-place finisher Blake Russell wore on their clothing at the post-race news conference.

It also spoke to the pride that made the Polish emigre’s eyes glisten as she described what it will mean to represent the United States at the Beijing Olympics nearly seven years after being sworn in as a citizen Sept. 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Her citizenship ceremony in San Francisco was cut from an expected three hours to five minutes, as authorities wanted everyone to evacuate the federal building as soon as possible.

She and her husband learned from the car radio what had happened.

“I owe it not only to those who died, but to Americans everywhere to do my best,” she said before the race.

Lewy Boulet’s father, Janusz, left their home in Katowice, Poland, in the mid-1980s for what she said were “political reasons in a communist country.”

About three years later, Lewy Boulet, her mother and younger brother joined her father in Kiel, Germany, where they stayed three more years before moving to Southern California in 1991.

“Coming from a different country and having the opportunity to do whatever I wanted is pretty amazing,” Lewy Boulet said. “I always look at life and try to jump at opportunities.”

Sunday, she ran a personal best, 2 hours 30 minutes 19 seconds as Kastor won in 2:29:35. Russell clocked 2:32:40.

Joan Benoit Samuelson, 50, the 1984 Olympic marathon champion, exceeded her expectations by finishing 90th in 2:49:08.

“I felt very strong out there, and I feel surprisingly good right now,” Samuelson said.

The race had shaped up as a 26.2-mile victory parade for Kastor, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, whose qualifying time (2:19.36, the American record) was 12 minutes faster than any of the other 143 starters’.

It turned out Lewy Boulet, who took fifth in the 2004 Olympic trials, was alone at the front for the first 22 miles.

She took a 17-second lead after the first mile, pushed it to nearly two minutes and still was 1:41 ahead with seven miles to go, when her pace began to slacken.

“For a moment, I thought I was going to win,” she said.

Kastor, 35, of Mammoth Lakes stuck to her plan of running conservatively for half the race. It nearly backfired.

“Even when I was picking up the pace, the gap wasn’t shortening,” Kastor said. “I was panicking for a few miles in there.

“I decided to stick with it, not make any rash moves so I could be strong for the finish. Luckily it worked out. There were long miles in the middle where I thought I had misjudged it.”

When Kastor passed her in the 24th mile, Lewy Boulet, 34, knew she was strong enough to hang on for one of the top Olympic places.

Meanwhile, Russell, 32, of Pacific Grove, Calif., was trying to avoid what happened in the 2004 trials, where she led for 17 miles before fading to fourth.

Russell’s previous fate also crossed Lewy Boulet’s mind.

“I planned to run the pace I was running, not to run by myself,” Lewy Boulet said.

“A million things were going through my head. Blake from 2004 was one of them, like, ‘Oh boy, I hope that doesn’t happen to me.’ ”

As the new jacket made clear, this race she finished in style.