From Baldwin to Paris: Chris Borzor ran in the Olympics

Chris Borzor, 25 of North Baldwin, never sought the awards, the records or the spotlight that came with his success as a track athlete. His sole focus was to “just run.”

“I’m just running for fun,” Borzor said last week, before departing for the Olympics in Paris, where he will represented his native Haiti in the 100-meter dash on Aug. 3.

Borzor unfortunately did not qualify for the second of the 100-meter heats after finishing in fifth place. 

“I don’t really think about that in my head,” he added of the records and awards. “Like, ‘Oh, I got to break this record.’ I just step on the track, run, and have fun with it.”

Borzor, whose family came to the United States when he was six, gained prominence for his sprinting at Uniondale High School and then at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Southern California, ultimately earning the opportunity to represent his homeland on the world stage as a member of the Haitian track team competing at the Summer Games.

“The past couple of months, though I knew I was going to the Olympics, I’ve been calm about it,” he said. “But the closer I get to the date, it’s like, OK, it really is coming true.”

Borzor’s interest in running can be traced back to the fifth grade, when he watched his older cousin Jonathan Prevost compete in track at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville. Prevost eventually signed his younger cousin up for the sport in a summer league in Baldwin.

“I was just running to run,” Borzor recalled. “I didn’t really know anything about it. I didn’t really start falling in love with it until I got to high school.”

Though he lived in Baldwin, he attended Uniondale High, and was a member of the class of 2018. There he excelled in the 100 as well as the 200- and 400-meter dashes and the long jump. As a senior, he finished fifth in both the 100 and 200 at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Track and Field Championships.

In his senior year, he qualified for the New Balance Nationals, and got a taste of national competition.

At Cincinnati, where he earned a degree in interdisciplinary studies, Borzor set university records in the 200 (20.55 seconds) as well as the indoor 200 (20.84) and 300 (33.98).

He studied for a master’s in gerontology at USC, where he continued to excel on the track.

His coach at Cincinnati, Nadine Faustin-Parker, who had run for the Haitian national team in 2000, 2004 and 2008, set up an interview for Borzor with team officials, in which he expressed his interest in running for his country.

Then, in June, he competed in the 100 meters in the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association New Life Invitational, in Nassau, Bahamas, where he broke the Haitian national record with a time of 10.14 seconds, and earned a spot on the country’s Olympic team.

“It was cool,” Borzor said. “I didn’t know I broke the record until the next day. It was an exciting moment.

“I know, in the Olympics, I’m going to pick it up again,” he added. “I’m trying to do it on a big stage.”

The recent international spotlight on Haiti has been challenging for Borzor to comprehend. In Port-au-Prince, the capital city, gangs have engaged in fierce battles, escalating tensions.

In early March of this year, the violence reached a new level, as gangs launched attacks on two of the country’s largest prisons and critical infrastructure, including the international airport.

“My country has been through a lot in a couple of years,” Borzor said. “I’m going to go out there and do my best for my country.”

He left for Paris on July 23.

Seeing his younger cousin have a chance at this once-in-a-lifetime experience, Prevost, expressed pride and a sense of inspiration, knowing that he played a role.

“It means a lot to me,” Prevost said. “He’s my younger cousin. I grew up with him and watched him grow up early on. So when he came to me and said he wanted to run track, it meant a lot to me.

“To see it come full circle  I know how dedicated he is to the sport, and how much work he puts into it,” he added.

Story reflects an update from print version.