Marco Arop’s Olympic dream takes shape in the heart of Dixie

Nestled behind a row of trees and backed onto a golf course on the edge of Starkville, Mississippi there’s a row of apartment buildings.

Up a set of stairs on a corner of the complex is where you’ll find Canadian middle-distance runner Marco Arop’s single-bedroom home.

On his kitchen counter there's a completed Rubik’s Cube, all of the colours perfectly aligned. Beside that lies a stack of books about the science of running and peak performance and recovery.

Perhaps it’s this, the Rubik’s Cube and running books, that is most telling about who Arop really is.

He loves learning new things and solving puzzles.

It just so happens the challenge that gets him up every day, keeps him up every night and what he toils over every training session, is mastering the 800-metre race.

Arop wants to be known as the fastest man in the world to ever run the distance.

“There are different ways to run the race. Just like there are different ways to solve the Rubik’s Cube,” Arop says.

“There's no one single way to do things. And I've learned that. What works for one person isn't necessarily going to work for everyone.”

Starkville might be an odd place to find a 24-year-old Sudanese refugee turned Canadian. It is a complicated place with a complicated history, steeped in racial injustice, civil upheaval and social activism.

Sitting in the heart of Mississippi, some of its 25,000 residents live in affluent, mostly white neighbourhoods – huge homes with perfectly manicured lawns. Others in mostly Black communities, with run-down homes and where gun violence, drug and alcohol abuse are a concern.

It’s where Black people were lynched and publicly hanged well into the 1900s. In 1922, Starkville was the site of a large rally for the Ku Klux Klan. Up until the early 1980s there were still segregated schools. If you were Black, you knew there were parts of the city you just didn’t go to.

Starkville is a modest place, with a slower pace. Its downtown is one main street lined with ornate buildings, mostly inhabited by locally owned businesses. The local diner is packed on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

It's a bubble. It is truly a bubble. You are protected. You're taken care of.

There’s a small square that commemorates its Black history, with photos of prominent leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., and where events like Juneteenth are celebrated.

It’s also the home of Mississippi State University, where there are nearly as many students enrolled as there are living in Starkville itself. Every fall the population doubles in size and becomes a bustling place until the summer heat settles in again.

Bulldogs is the mascot name for the athletic teams at MUS, and make no mistake, they run this town. You can buy anything Bulldog almost anywhere in town. There are state-of-the-art facilities on campus. The 63,000-seat Davis Wade Stadium is eye-popping. Dudy Noble Field is where the baseball team plays, where they pack upward of 16,000 fans in the stadium for games. Everywhere you turn, including the Mike Sanders Track and Field Complex, is immaculate.

And if you’re an athlete here, the locals adore you. You are treated differently, no matter where you come from or what you look like. 

“Although I'm not too familiar with the rest of the state and everything that goes on outside of here, I know for me this definitely exceeded the expectations,” says Arop, whose comfort level has grown over the five years since first arriving in Starkville in 2018 to study computer science.

“It's a whole community in itself, so you would never see the real Starkville,” says Yulanda Haddix, president of the local chapter of the NAACP and an MSU alum. She grew up here and knows the difference between what’s on campus and what exists outside its gates. “It's a bubble. It is truly a bubble. You are protected. You're taken care of.”

In those early days, Arop wouldn’t venture too far from home and ensured he was back in his space by nightfall. Even the backroads he runs down on the weekends or in the mornings he’d steer clear of unless with a group of people.

“I've never felt that this wasn't a safe place for me. I think it could also be the person I am, and I think I'm very trusting of other people. But I've found nothing but respect and kindness from the community here,” he says.

He’s no longer a student, but he remains here, hoping what it provides can vault him to the top of the podium at the World Athletics Championships this August in Budapest. He’s aiming to better the bronze medal he won at last year’s world in Oregon.

Before all of this, in those early days just getting into the sport, Arop thought he had found the blueprint to getting around a 400-metre track twice in the shortest amount of time.

He’ll never forget his first 800, a high school race in Edmonton, and the YouTube footage of the 2012 Olympics final he watched repeatedly to prepare for it.

“That was the greatest 800-metre race of all time,” Arop says. “David Rudisha broke the world record running start to finish and I think seven of the eight runners ran personal bests in national record times.”

Arop says he and Rudisha, a Kenyan, have similar physiques and running styles so it made the most sense to try to race like him when he was first getting into the sport. It also helped that Rudisha is the record-holder at one minute 40.91 seconds, the first and only man to break the 1:41 barrier.

“For the longest time I thought that's how I have to run it,” Arop says. “I think seeing someone that looked like me physically and just had the same attributes, I thought I can emulate that.”

Since then, Arop has been inching closer to Rudisha’s time, his personal best just a couple of seconds shy at 1:43.26. Brandon McBride holds Canada's national record of 1:43.20.

“I think the next few years will definitely tell if I'm going to be capable of reaching that. And my goal this year is to try and run 1:42 and break the Canadian and North American records,” Arop says.

“I'm not quite there yet.”

Arop is perfectly fine admitting it. He has keen self-awareness that allows him to be honest with himself and the supporting cast around him, which in turn allows him to pivot quickly when things aren’t going as planned.

His list of accomplishments is lengthy considering he really only got serious about running Grade 12. Basketball was his first love.

He won gold at the 2017 Canadian U20 championships shortly after starting in the sport. Two years later Arop captured gold at the Pan Am Games in Peru, setting a new Games record of 1:44.25. He made his Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, advancing to the semifinals.

He’s been taking steps along the way to get faster and stronger. And everything about his life is centred around minimalism, consistency and solving problems.

You might not meet a more humble, soft-spoken elite athlete. In a sport littered with ego, there’s nothing grandiose about Arop’s personality. For as physically noticeable as Arop is, there are times when you don’t even realize he’s in the room.

If you really want to know who Arop is, just show up to one of his practices on campus and watch how everyone in his training group treats him.

He's a legend. Not just because Marco runs fast times. Marco is a legend because of the simple things he does.

They adore Marco, idolize him, and in some cases wish they could be just like him.

“He's a legend. Not just because Marco runs fast times. Marco is a legend because of the simple things he does,” Navasky Anderson says. “Like this man never stops. You’ll never meet somebody that's so kind, so humble, and genuine. That man is a motivator. He inspires me. He is my everything.”

Anderson, 23, holds Jamaica’s national record in the 800m, nearly two seconds slower than Arop’s.

“He’s my training partner. Marco is like my bigger, better best friend. He advises me on everything so he is someone I can look up to,” Anderson says. “Just good energy all the time from him. That guy is really a legend around here.”

They’re competitors at international meets, but in Starkville they’re each other’s biggest supporters.

Similar to Anderson, England’s Daniel Joyce also came to MSU to surround himself with the best talent in the world.

“Marco is probably one of the most humble people I've ever met. it's just a different aura,” Joyce says. “But he can flip a switch when it comes to a big workout or a big race. He knows he’s going to beat you or at least he's going to do everything in his power to go further than what you can.”

And then there’s sprinter Stephan James, who is probably the closest friend to Arop in of the group. A self-proclaimed entrepreneur and businessman, James has assumed the role of Marco’s manager.

“I’m like his right-hand man. Anything he needs, I’ll make it happen,” James says with a smile. “I’ll respond to emails. Set up appointments or book flights to meets. If he needs a massage I’ll book that.

“I shoot content and edit it for his social media. Whatever he needs done to make his life easier.”

James and Arop are inseparable, driving together to training sessions, playing video games when they’re not training, and sometimes they’ll even host karaoke nights at Arop’s house. Marco rarely sings (there’s no video footage apparently) but James is usually behind the mic.

It’s this mix of seriousness and fun the two enjoy about one another.

“I think he's a great athlete because he's disciplined. His dedication to the sport is out of this world,” James says. “And I feel the people he is around kind of motivate him too. He’s aware of that. Your own motivation can only carry you for so far.”

Tasked with harnessing all of this energy and all of these personalities is Chris Woods.

Woods took over as head coach of MSU’s athletics team in 2019. He’s worked closely with Arop over the years. A middle distance runner himself who also specialized in the 800m from 2005 to 2008 at MSU, there’s a strong bond between Woods and Arop.

“I think the fact that he's special and he doesn't realize that he's special makes him special. Some people just have God-given everything. And Marco has the talent,” Woods says. “He's one of the sweetest people I've ever known. Yet he's one of the most competitive people I know.”

The pair are steadfast on reaching the ultimate goal of standing on the top of the podium at the Olympics.

“We're trying to win every single race that we are in. He's trying to be the best male athlete that can run the two fastest laps on the face of this planet,” Woods says. “There's always a sense of urgency. He has it all. And he doesn't even know that he has it. It's just innate in him.

“It's been one of my easiest coaching jobs because he just does the right thing innately.“

And Arop’s discipline and dedication to his craft is unrivalled.

His mornings start the same most days – stretching, stretching and then a little more stretching before going for a run. Then he trains for hours on campus along with a group of athletes who all have aspirations similar to his.

You won’t find much clutter in his Starkville apartment. There’s a couch along one wall, with a TV across from it. There are foam rollers and yoga mats. A massage table is tucked away in one corner. On the other side of the room there’s a small keyboard, an amp and a guitar. There’s just enough room for Arop’s six-foot-four frame to sprawl across the living space.

His life is simple there, with nearly everything he needs nearby. That includes Bluff Lake, a picturesque forested area up against water with winding trails in a national wildlife refuge. It is where Arop and a group of friends go for longer runs - 12 to 20 kms - on the weekend.

Arop also likes to go there alone, his peaceful escape to clear his mind.

“I try to be mindful with my running. I try not to overthink things,” he says. “For the most part, when I'm in training in sessions, the goal is to focus on my form and make sure everything is aligned.”

On this early morning in late April it’s about 21 degrees as the sun starts to rise. The humidity hangs in the still air. Arop gets out of his car and puts on his shoes. There’s a chorus of birds chirping to greet him. There’s not a person in sight.

“If I don't have music in my ears, I just kind of enjoy the moment. Just try to embrace that feeling of just how lucky I am to be able to run and enjoy myself and go out and just do the things that I love every day,” he says.

“I think that's the sense that I get every time I go and run. Even this morning, just looking at the views and how lucky I am to be able to do that, where I am able to do that.”

For as natural as it all seems now for Arop, this hasn’t always been the case.

It’s been quite the journey getting to this point in his career and life – a life that started in Khartoum, Sudan. But at age 3 his family was forced to flee the ravages of the country’s bloody civil war.

His parents, mother Aluel Lual and father Rau Arop, wound up in Edmonton, where they still live today. Arop is the fourth of six boys, and felt the support of his entire family as he began his running career, including his move to the deep American south.

But there was worry, too. His parents had questions, especially considering Arop was moving to a place with a deep history of racism.

“My parents had some concerns and they asked me about the history and how much I knew about it. And they also asked my coaches and tried to get their thoughts on everything,” Arop says. “They definitely made sure that they were checking in on me on the regular and being sure that I had everything I needed to be safe.”

Woods played a key role in making sure Arop’s parents felt comfortable with him living in Starkville.

“I think they trust me to develop their son into being a great young man. It's our job as coaches to try to be an extension of the home and develop young, functioning adults to go into society and to be successful,” Woods says.

Now Arop is trying to live up to his own great expectations.

He’s heading home to Edmonton at the beginning of July to compete in a local meet and catch up with family and friends. Last summer, at the same meet, he ran one of the fastest races of his life.

He might even take the Rubik’s Cube – Arop and his brothers compete to see who can line up the colours the fastest, his competitive spirit is always present.

And Arop hopes it culminates in the perfect 800m race.

“I think the final puzzle pieces are coming together. There's still a few stepping stones left but every year it's getting inches closer to it,” he says. “It's so close.

“I might surprise myself. I wouldn't be surprised if I go out this summer and perform. So hopefully that's the case.”

Main photo by Steve Tzemis/CBC Sports