The first Australian man in 53 years to make an Olympics 800m final is challenging stereotypes in Tokyo
On Sunday night, having just become the first Australian to qualify for the men’s Olympic 800m final since 1968, Peter Bol was asked about the significance of his historic achievement. “What does it mean to Australia?” he replied. Bol’s rhetorical question was probably meant in a sporting sense. But the rise of the nation’s latest middle-distance star prompts broader questions about Australia, too.
Bol was born in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1994. His mother is Sudanese, his father from the region that would become South Sudan. It was a time of turmoil in Sudan and the Bol family soon left for Egypt, before arriving in Australia in 2004. There is some misinformation circulating around his story – his Wikipedia page says he and his family came from a refugee camp in Egypt, but he has never been in one.
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