“Lost Boy” from Darfur to Bear U.S. Olympic Flag
by Allie Comeau on August 8, 2008 
1 comment
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games have officially begun!
The opening ceremony in Beijing was reportedly magnificent, with fireworks, acrobats, drummers, and more wowing the crowd of 90,000+ people. After all the negative attention Beijing has been getting since the host city was announced, China was eager to impress the world with dazzling light displays and music. But, behind all that glitter and gold, lies the real heart of the Olympics – the athletes… the dreamers and hopefuls who’ve worked so hard to get where they are today.
Take Lopez Lomong, or the “Lost Boy,” for instance. He’s overcome insurmountable odds to become a U.S. Olympic middle-distance runner. And his teammates have now chosen him to carry the American flag during today’s 2008 opening ceremony. Lomong comes from war-torn Sudan and was one of 3,800 Sudanese refugees who were relocated in the United States. He runs for Team Darfur – a team dedicated to promoting awareness of the atrocities/genocide happening in Darfur.
Lomong fled southern Sudan with his family when he was only 6 years old. During the chaos that followed, he was separated from them and ended up in a refugee camp on the border with Kenya. In 1991, he found himself in the middle of a Sudanese civil war between Christians and Arab Muslims that claimed 2 million lives and left at least 5 million homeless. Lomong spent 10 years in a refugee camp before the U.S. brought him over here, where he lived in upstate New York and later attended Northern Arizona University before becoming an American citizen in 2007.
From the article on Sports Illustrated…
“This is the most exciting day ever in my life,” he said in a USOC statement. “I’m here as an ambassador of my country and I will do everything I can to represent my country well.”
“The American flag means everything in my life — everything that describes me, coming from another country and going through all the stages that I have to become a U.S. citizen,” Lomong said in the USOC statement. “This is another amazing step for me in celebrating being an American.”
Be sure to keep an eye on Lomong and Team Darfur this Olympic season. They’ve got every reason to win.
August 8th, 2008 @ 9:02 am
Go Lopez!