Mention the readmittance of South Africa to the international track and field scene, and smiles warm the faces of Elana Meyer and Collen de Reuck.
For years, the two world-class distance runners were confined to competing in their native South Africa because the nation's policy of racial separation prevented its athletes from competing internationally.Then, in 1992, shortly before the Barcelona Olympics, the ban was lifted and the athletes were liberated.
Monday, Meyer and de Reuck will make history. They not only will be the first world-class South African women in the Boston Marathon, but the first world-class African women in the race's 98-year history.
"It was amazing," Meyer, 27, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist at 10,002 meters, said happily about the news two years ago that South Africa had been readmitted and would be able to participate in the Games for the first time since 1960.
"For many years, we couldn't do it . . . South Africans never had the opportunity.
"For the biggest part of my career, isolation was a reality. I didn't see the Olympics or the World Championships as a possibility. I thought that's the way it would be.
"Now, I feel lucky to be a part of this generation."
De Reuck, 30, the ninth-place finisher at the 1992 Olympic marathon, is just as enthusiastic as Meyer about South Africa's return to the international fold.
"It was fantastic, great," she said, beaming.
"At the Olympics, you just have goosebumps and you always have a smile on your face. The whole atmosphere is so different, so exciting.
"I was just so grateful to be able to compete in the Olympics, because a lot of great athletes have missed that opportunioty.
"We were being penalized even though we didn't agree with the political scene."
De Reuck said she was getting "tired" of running because she had achieved her goals domestically, including winning the South African marathon championship and earning the Springbok colors, a prestigous honor for an athlete.
"Now, competing internationally, it gives you more inspiration and more hope to achieve new goals," she said. "Also, I can represent my country outside of South Africa."
Meyer, making her marathon debut, and de Reuck, competing in only her third marathon - and her first since the Olympics - are among the favorites Monday in an exceptionally strong women's field.
Their major opposition will include two-time defending champion Olga Markova of Russia, Olympic gold medalist Valentina Yegerova of Russia, 1993 New York City Marathon winner Uta Pippig of Germany, two-time Boston runner-up Kim Jones of Spokane, Wash., 1993 third-place finisher Carmen de Oliviera of Brazil, New York City third-place finisher Nadia Prasad of France, and 1993 world cross country champion Albertina Dias of Portugal.
The men's elite field is even deeper.
It includes defending champion Cosmas Ndeti of Kenya, Olympic gold medalist Hwang Young-Jo of Korea, 1993 New York City Marathon winner Andres Espinosa of Mexico, New York runner-up and 1992 Olympian Bob Kempainen of Minneapolis, New York third-place finisher and former 10,000-meter world record-holder Arturo Barrios of Mexico, and Olympic bronze medalist Stephan Freigang of Germany.
Also, 1993 Boston third-place finisher and world champion silver medalist Lucketz Swartbooi of Namibia, 1991 world 10,000-meter champion Moses Tanui of Kenya, 1993 Honolulu Marathon champion Lee Bong-Jur of Korea, 1992 Boston runner-up Joaquim Pinheiro of Portugal, Russian champion Andrey Tarasov, formidable Kenyans Sammy Lelei, Boniface Merande and Benson Masya, New York fifth-place finisher Keith Brantly of Ormond Beach, Fla., first-time marathoner Mark Coogan of Boulder, Colo., and South Africans David Tsebe and Gert Thys.
While Meyer and de Reuck will be making their Boston debuts, South African men already have run in the race.
Tsebe was troubled with foot blisters during last year's Boston Marathon and finished a disappointing 23rd after having run the fastest time in the world in 1992 (2 hours, 8 minutes, 7 seconds at Berlin).
His compatriot, Thys, ran the fourth-fastest time in the world last year (2:09:31) at Fukuoka, Japan, and will be competing at Boston for the first time.
However, they have not attracted as much curiosity as have the two women.
Meyer, although an inexperienced marathoner, has the potential to run extremely fast. She has the best women's times in the field for 3,000 meters (8:32.00), 5,000 (14:44.46), 10,000 (31:11.75) and the half-marathon (1:07:22).
De Reuck, who has been overshadowed in publicity in South Africa by Meyer and Zola Budd Pieterse, and now lives in Boulder, Colo., nevertheless was voted her country's Road Runner of the Year in 1993.
Neither Meyer nor de Reuck has anything to prove. They just want to show the world their capabilities in a race with an international stage.