Meb Keflezighi granted honorary Ph.D months ahead of Rio Olympics

Honored to be speaking at university commencements as this academic year ends. Education is a value of mine and it’s given my family so much. #RunToOvercome #RunToWin

A photo posted by Meb (@runmeb) on May 2, 2016 at 8:22am PDT

A California university has just granted Olympic runner and 2014 Boston Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi an honorary doctorate. Keflezighi can now say that he is a an Olympic medallist, elite runner, winner of Boston and the New York City Marathon and also a doctor.

Sacramento’s National University just granted him with the honorary Ph.D on May 1 when he was also the keynote speaker for a class of graduating students at the school. This comes just months ahead of the Rio Olympics where Keflezighi will represent the U.S. in the marathon. At 41, he will also be the oldest runner to have run for team America.

Meb is not the only runner to have been granted a degree from a university. It was not long ago when this pioneer of women’s running in Canada was granted an honorary degree and spoke at the University of Toronto.

Keflezighi is best known for winning silver in the 2004 Olympics and for breaking the tape in Boston in 2014 when he ran the marathon in 2:08:37 ending the American drought by becoming the first U.S. runner to win North America’s most famous race since 1985.

“Meb is an incredible role model who never tires of setting new goals for himself, and whose message resonates strongly with our University community: that no matter where you are in life, it’s never too late to do great things,” National University’s chancellor Dr. Michael R. Cunningham said in a news brief published by the university.

“So many National University graduates are working professionals, but they refuse to let anything get in their way of reaching their goal. I want to applaud their successes and to encourage them to pursue their passions to contribute for the greater good,” Keflezighi said in his keynote speech to the students.

National University was founded in 1971 and is a campus of about 30,000.