Lopez Lomong

Lopez Lomong Carries US Olympic Flag

When the US contingent marches into Bird's Nest Stadium in the opening ceremony at the 2008 Olympics, the proud flag bearer will be Lopez Lomong, an adoptee from Sudan.

The story of the 23-year-old athlete's road to Beijing is one of triumph over adversity. He was only six when he and other children were taken at gunpoint from a church in his Sudanese village by militiamen determined to turn them into soldiers. He would not see his family for 15 years.

One night, he escaped and ran until he reached a refuge camp in northern Kenya where he remained for a decade. In 2001, he was brought to America as part of a program to relocate the "Lost Boys of Sudan," Then 16, he was adopted by a couple in a Syracuse, NY suburb who learned about him from a bulletin in their church.

Lomong hadn't known about the Olympics until he saw the 2000 Olympics on a TV set in the Kenyan refugee camp. That's when he decided to become a runner. Last year as a Northern Arizona University undergraduate, he won the 1500 meter at the NCAA Track and Field Competition. This year he qualified for the Olympics by finishing in the top three in the 1500 meter at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials. He made the team only a year after becoming a U.S. citizen.

Lomong is a member of Team Darfur, part of a group of Olympians that seeks increased recognition of the problem.

His story is an inspiring one and if you want to know more about him, you can google search his name. www.lopezlomong.org