奧運報道:Lopez Lomong's Story(視頻文字)ZT
EUGENE, Oregon — Many athletes heading for the London Olympics have overcome adversity. Top African-born distance runner Lopez Lomong, a one-time "Lost Boy" of Sudan, is one of them.
The 27-year-old athlete has spent the past decade making a new life for himself in the United States. He relocated to the northwestern city of Portland, Oregon, last year and hopes to leverage Olympic success into greater aid and attention for his homeland.
Lomong started running when he was six and didn't stop for three days and nights as he escaped from rebel soldiers during Sudan's civil war. Lomong and thousands of other refugee kids became known as the "Lost Boys of Sudan."
Many were eventually resettled in the United States as teenagers. Lomong was 16 when he arrived in 2001. Six years later, he became an American citizen.
"I'm just so thankful to the American people for opening their hands," he says.
Lomong is now a professional runner. Early last year, he moved from Arizona to suburban Portland to join an elite training group sponsored by the sports apparel giant, Nike. Six distance runners from that group, including Lomong, have now qualified for the London Games.
"I am happy to have a group of guys who are working every single day to be able to be on this podium and make the team and go on to represent this great country," Lomong says.
This will be his second trip to the Olympics. At the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China, Lomong was eliminated in the semifinals of the 1,500 meter run. That year, his teammates found his story and personality so compelling, they elected him to be the U.S. flag bearer at the opening ceremony.