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Lead Stories: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Flag Bearer Lomong Living American, Olympic Dreams

Posted August 8th, 2008 at 2:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Columns, Olympics, SPOTLIGHT

For the USA flag bearer for tonight’s Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, Lopez Lomong, his journey from war-torn Sudan to the National Stadium here is one of the great miracles of these Games. He is truly the embodiment of both the American and Olympic Dreams.

The 23 year-old 1500m runner, who is competing in his first Olympics, told his story of escape, survival and ultimately athletic fulfillment to a room of hundreds of reporters at the Main Press Center here. Wide-eyed and deliberate, he explained how he escaped from the clutches of the Janjaweed militia with three friends he called his “Angels,” making it to the Kenyan border after three days on the run.

“‘At midnight we’re going to go home,’” Lomong recalls his Angels telling him. He was only six years-old at the time. “We escaped through a crack in the door. We started crawling. That’s where my race started.”
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Beijing Swelters in Advance of Opening Ceremony

Posted August 8th, 2008 at 11:00 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

In advance of tonight’s Opening Ceremony, Beijing remains in the grip of a humid haze so thick that one could barely see the sun over Tiananmen Square this morning (see photo).

This is the third consecutive day that this Olympic host city has seen stifling humidity which has greatly reduced visibility and has left athletes, tourists and members of the media alike sweating profusely. There has not been a blue sky to look at since Tuesday afternoon.
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Lomong To Be U.S. Flag Bearer at Opening Ceremony

Posted August 7th, 2008 at 2:14 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

USA Track and Field announced here yesterday that 1500m runner Lopez Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, would be the flag bearer at tomorrow night’s Opening Ceremony at the 29th Olympic Games. Lomong, 23, who was raised by adoptive parents in Tully, N.Y., was informed of the decision by telephone in Dalian, the Chinese coastal city where the American athletics team has its training base.

“This is the most exciting day ever in my life,” Lomong said in a statement released by USATF to the media. “It’s a great honor for me that my teammates chose to vote for me. The Opening Ceremony is the best day and the best moment of Olympic life. I’m here as an ambassador of my country and I will do everything I can to represent my country well.”

Lomong made his first Olympic team by finishing third at the U.S. Trials, just 1/10th of a second behind second place finisher eonel
Manzano, the former University of Texas star. The Trials race was won by two-time Olympic medalist, Bernard Lagat, completing a full three-man team in that event, all of whom were born outside of the United States. Lomong had also competed in the 800m at the Trials, finishing fifth, one week earlier.
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London 2012: New Era of Stadium Design Unveiled

Posted November 9th, 2007 at 9:28 PM by Jamal Walker

Section: News & Results, Olympics

The Olympic Stadium for the Games in 2012 has been unveiled at a ceremony in the London Olympic Park. The 80,000-seat stadium will be the centre-piece of the 2012 Games venues and will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and athletics events. Once the Games are over, the arena will be converted into a 25,000-seat permanent stadium and will become a new home for athletics, combined with other sporting, community and educational uses.

Inspiring, Innovative and Sustainable

Commenting at the launch, the Chairman of the London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG), Seb Coe, said:

“We talk a lot about milestones, but few will be more exciting than this, the unveiling of the Olympic Stadium, which will be the centre-piece of our Olympic Park. The stadium will stand for everything we talked about in the bid: it will be inspiring, innovative and sustainable – the theatre within which the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will be played out and will leave behind top class sporting and community facilities after the Games.”

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