``But I don't think people who feel this way are being racist. If some black guy born and raised in the Bronx had won, everyone would be cheering and you would not get this backlash. I think we are all of the belief that there's something in the water over there in East Africa and until an American -- forgive me, a `real/normal' American -- can break through, we won't be able to truly claim these transplanted American victories as our own.''

The last American to win in New York 27 years ago was Alberto Salazar. He was born in Cuba, moved to Miami at age 2 and grew up running in Boston.

``What if Meb's parents had moved here two days before he was born or two days after?'' Salazar said. ``He's as American as anybody else in this country. Here we are clamoring for an American to win and when one does, people still see the glass as half empty.''

Look at the names of the other five Americans who finished in the top 10 (the most since 1979): Ryan Hall, Jorge Torres, Nick Arciniaga, Abdi Abdiraham, Jason Lehmkuhle. Depending on how far back you want to trace their heritage, they came from somewhere else, like most Americans. Had an American with a European or Hispanic surname or lighter skin won, would his American-ness have been called into question?

``Part of this is straightforward disappointment in the job Americans have done in developing elite distance runners who were willing to adopt a demanding way of life,'' said John Hoberman, University of Texas professor and author of Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race. ``And part of it is our habit of setting up a racial hierarchy. We're doing the 21st Century version. It's not going to stop in our lifetime.''

As proof, there was this post by a Times reader disagreeing with another reader who said Keflezighi's citizenship was 100 percent American but his athletic genes were 100 percent Ethiopian:

``And your genes are? Huh? Why are you breaking it down into ethnicity? Unless you are Native American [100 percent, mind you] your genes are not `American.' ''

Country and color. Those preoccupations make something as simple as victory very complicated.