Lopez Lomong Biographical Essay

It has been a remarkable journey for the 27-year-old, a former lost child and a refugee from South Sudan. He fled the civil war in Sudan between the 1980s and 1990s. He narrates how one Sunday morning rebels broke into their village's church and forcefully took him away from his mother. All the kids were kidnapped and taken to a training camp so that they would serve as child soldiers. The conditions at the training camp were not favorable and were sometimes fed on sorghum mixed with sand. The horrible conditions at the camp instigated his escape.

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He described his first race as an escape from the training camp when the soldiers were busy smoking and laughed around them. Together with his friend, he ran for three days and nights thinking that he was heading home, only to end up in Kenya. From that point onwards, he was registered as a refugee and spent his next ten years in a camp. While running and playing football in Kenya, he started hearing some kids talk about Olympics (Hosea, 2012). First, he never knew what the Olympics were but went to wealthier Kenyan personality houses to watch it on TV. It's during the time that Lomong saw Michael Johnson cry after winning the race. He later came to realize those athletes were running for greater things than they were; they were running for their countries. He also had the dream of running for the same state since Michael Johnson was his role model from that time onwards. His dreams came true when the "?U.S accepted to take 3500 Sudanese refugees as part of the government resettlement.

What I found out

He lived with a foster family while starting training in tracks and the field. At one point, he even met Johnson who encouraged him to participate in Olympic trials. In 2008, he was among the athletes who qualified for 1500m besides carrying the U.S flag during the beginning of the ceremony (Hosea, 2012). He reveals that the secret of succeeding at the Olympic Games is through unity since there are swimmers, wrestlers, and athletes who have to work together to bring success home Despite being determined to win medal for his adopted country, he has never given u in creating a difference for his home country (Ellis, 2012). Lomong has never forgotten his homeland and frequently pays visits to his family members after the reunion. He also started a charitable organization named 4 South Sudan. He is in charge of raising money and gives back his achievements to the community through the provision of basic needs such as clean water, medicine, and education (Hosea, 2012). He believes that the living, seeing a new day and the process of thinking must need some of the most caring people in the world to be pursued. He is always determined to bringing the medal home to the American people since he says he owes it to the American people who took him in. He also dreams of seeing a female athlete carrying the South Sudan flag during the Olympic Games.

He has also gained achievement from other aspects of life. Or instance, he has authored a book called "Running from My Life" where he describes his journey from the killing fields of Sudan to find his way to the Olympic Games. In the book, he narrates his encouraging story about how he came from nothing to U.S athlete.

References

Ellis, J. (2012). Lopez Lomong: From war child to U.S. Olympics star. Retrieved on 20

July 2017 from HYPERLINK "https://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/06/sport/lopez-lomong-lost-boy/index.html" https://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/06/sport/lopez-long-lost-boy/index.html

Hosea, L. (2012). Lopez Lomong, a former child refugee, aims for 5,000m gold Retrieved on

20 July 2017 HYPERLINK "https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/19153946" https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/19153946