Lopez Lomong and His Journey
We’ll now give you a very touching sports story about a young man, US Olympian, Lopez Lomong. Lopez Lomong was born with the name Lopepe Lomong on January 1, 1985 in Kimotong, Sudan. He is a Sudanese-born American athlete. Lomong qualified for 2008 Summer Olympics in the 1500 meters at the United States Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon.
” When we were in Africa, we didn’t know what was there for us as kids–we just ran. God was planning all of this stuff for me, and I didn’t know. Now I’m using running to get the word out about how horrible things were back in Sudan during the war. Sometimes these things are not on CNN, so if I put out the word, I hope people can get the information. Right now, similar terrible things are going on in Darfur; people are running out of Darfur, and I put myself in their shoes.”
This is the touching part I was talking to you about, Lomong is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Lomong spent 10 years in a refugee camp after fleeing his native Sudan as a child. Lomong fled on foot away from rampaging government-sponsored Arab militias in southern Sudan. He was still six (6) years old then when he got separated from his parents. His escape was when the civil war between Sudan’s Muslim, Arab north and the Christian south. He eventually reached Kenya where he lived in a refugee camp for 10 years. He was then resettled with a foster family in the United States.
The story doesn’t end there. In the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Lomong will be the flag-bearer for the whole United States Squad.