Background

Jorge’s father, Jose, came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 14 or so, laboring first as a migrant worker in the fields of the Midwest and then in a Chicago factory. “They were looking to live the American dream,” said Jorge of his parents, who by 1980 – the same year Jorge and his twin brother, Edwardo, were born – had saved enough to open Torres Jewelry, which now has three stores, in Chicago and Minneapolis.

Since winning his first national championship when he was 11, Jorge has been tagged for stardom. A three-time Illinois high school cross country champion and 1998 winner of the Foot Locker National Championships, he was ranked #3 in the U.S. in 2002, while still in college. By the summer of 2003, he had already made his first World Championships final, at 5000m, but even then everyone saw the longer distances as his destiny. They were right: in 2006, he won a national title at 10,000m in his first race ever at the distance.

In 2008, Jorge realized a lifelong dream when he finished third in the 10,000m at the US Olympic Trials and qualified to compete in the Beijing Olympics. A year after becoming an Olympian, Jorge began a transition to the marathon and ran his first half marathon at the Great North Run in England, running an impressive 1:02:42. Six weeks later, Jorge made his debut at the full distance at the ING New York City Marathon. After staying witht he lead group for much of the race, Jorge went on to finish as the third American and seventh overall in 2:13:00, a time that ranks as the eleventh fastest marathon debut in US history.