[by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Three Kenya-born long-distance runners [00:03.16]will be competing at the Rio Olympics this August for Team USA. [00:10.12]Paul Chelimo, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Leonard Korir [00:16.88]will be wearing the USA uniform in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [00:24.12]Because they are soldiers in the U.S. Army, [00:27.64]the runners were able to apply for and receive U.S. citizenship [00:35.32]without waiting the usual three or five years. [00:40.08]Chelimo will compete in the 5-kilometer race in Rio de Janeiro. [00:47.12]Kipchirchir and Korir will run in the 10-kilometer race. [00:52.60]All of the runners competed at the recent Olympic Trials in the state of Oregon. [00:59.04]They made the team by finishing in the top three in their events. [01:05.45]The Kenya-born athletes had attended universities in the U.S. [01:11.48]and were members of their school's track and field teams. [01:16.76]Kipchirchir went to Oklahoma State University. [01:21.48]Korir went to Iona College outside of New York City. [01:26.84]Chelimo went to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. [01:32.92]When it came time to decide what they would do after school, [01:38.16]enlisting in the U.S. Army seemed like a good idea. [01:43.00]Dan Browne is a former Olympic athlete. [01:47.12]He coaches the runners in the Army's World Class Athlete Program. [01:53.36]Browne said top athletes who are looking to stay in the U.S. enlist in the military [02:01.64]because they can become citizens sooner. [02:05.60]Korir said people in Kenya love to run. [02:10.44]So it made sense that he and his countrymen would try to continue their careers. [02:18.24]"In Kenya, running is like soccer in Brazil," he said. [02:23.96]Chelimo, 25, joined the Army in 2014. [02:30.68]He is a water treatment specialist. [02:34.20]Korir will turn 30 later this year. [02:37.72]He is a motor transport operator. [02:41.72]Kipchirchir is 27. [02:45.20]He is a financial management technician. [02:48.76]Browne says the athletes can be paid, perform their military duties [02:54.84]and also prepare for major competitions like the Olympics. [03:00.80]All of the athletes in the program are great ambassadors for the Army, Browne said. [03:07.72]"They represent sacrifice, determination, loyalty, commitment - all of our ethos." [03:18.12]Some members of the international track and field community [03:22.68]are concerned about how easy it is for athletes to change countries. [03:29.08]Sebastian Coe, a famous British runner, [03:33.60]is the president of the organization that governs international track and field. [03:39.96]He and other track and field leaders will meet during the Rio Games [03:46.56]to discuss whether it is too easy for athletes to change their citizenship. [03:53.88]The Kenyan-American runners believe they have worked hard to represent the U.S. [04:01.04]After he qualified for the Olympics, [04:04.08]Kipchirchir said he still performed duties like other soldiers in the U.S. Army. [04:11.88]Kipchirchir and some of the other runners live in Beaverton, Oregon. [04:17.40]Beaverton is home to the athletic company Nike. [04:22.52]They will often train with athletes who are paid to represent Nike. [04:28.80]"Their job is just running," Kipchirchir said. "They concentrate on just running." [04:36.48]But Kipchirchir says he is a soldier, first. [04:40.96]In all, there will be 10 athletes at the Rio Games who are serving in the Army. [04:48.12]Another runner, a race walker, four shooters and a modern pentathlon competitor [04:57.96]will join the three runners from Kenya for the games. [05:02.96]I'm Dan Friedell. [05:04.56]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM