EUGENE, Ore. — If, like most of America, you watched the women’s 400 here at the U.S. track and field Trials a few days ago, and your takeaway was Allyson Felix and her cute daughter, Cammy, and Quanera Hayes and her cute son, Demetrius, and the way the new moms celebrated finishing 1-2 with their kids on the track, Wadeline Jonathas would like you to know that she finished third and she matters just as much, and, for real no knock on anyone else, but if you could tear yourself over this way, you would see the very essence of what it means, really, to be an American, to make it in this country, to represent the United States, red, white and blue, all of that, in the 21st century.

Wadeline Jonathas — Wadie, please — is an immigrant from Haiti. She came to the United States when she was 11. Became an American citizen when she was 17. She didn’t even start running track until she was 16. Didn’t take up the 400 until she was 18. She’s now 23 and going to the Olympics.

Everyone has a story. This is the lesson of Wadeline Jonathas. In her case, it borders on the is-this-for-real? Answer: it’s 100 percent real because there’s so much more to it. At 15, she was homeless. They should make a movie out of The Wadeline Jonathas Story. “One day,” she said with a laugh.