EUGENE, Ore. — As career paths go, Boris Berian did not take any recommended route toward becoming a champion 800-meter runner and an advocate for athletes’ rights in standing up to Nike.
In May 2014, because of poor grades, Berian lost his eligibility at Adams State University in Colorado. He left school and began working the day shift at McDonald’s. He trained alone at night and slept on a friend’s couch.
“You’re going to work there forever,” Silvia Deen, his mother, admonished him.
Become a firefighter, she told her son. Join the police academy.
“Just give me time,” Berian, 23, told his mother.