Where Once He Was Lost, Now He Is Found

There, thanks to the United Nations, a group of 10 boys were able to eat one meal a day. "You eat late at night so it will carry you until the next night," Lomong said. "In the day, you play soccer or run to keep your mind off the hunger. . . . Still, some Kenyans were not happy with us because we had more food than they did.

"I thought my family was dead, but in the camp I became happy again."

Twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, the 10 boys got one chicken. They mixed it with salt and water to make weak chicken soup and treasured every tiny morsel of actual chicken, their only meat of the year.

In 2001, word arrived that the United States wanted to take 3,500 of these refugee "Lost Boys" to the United States to place with foster families. "But you had to write your life story to see who would go," Lomong said. "I just decided to say, 'This is me.' I put everything on a piece of paper."

After three weeks, "They said, 'Congratulations.' "

The rest was an incomprehensible swirl. An airplane, a family (Robert and Barbara Rogers) in Upstate New York and the sight of unfathomable cars, roads and cities. "I had to learn everything, like how to shower. [Is it] hot or cold? No, put it in the middle."

Straight from the airport, the Rogers took Lomong to McDonald's. Yeah, yeah, the Olympic sponsor. And what did he order? Chicken.

When he had eaten all he could, there was chicken left. "Throw it away," his new parents told him. "There's more at home." But he couldn't. "I remembered when a little piece of chicken was 'Merry Christmas to you.' So I took it home."

Given opportunities that American teenagers take for granted, he embraced his chance with his whole soul. School was a blessing but also breathtaking to a 16-year-old who had always learned his letters by writing in the dirt.

So, you ask, how on earth did Lomong get the idea of being an Olympian? Once in Kenya, he was given five shillings for watering cows. It was his only money but he never spent it, keeping it for the right moment. He heard others talking about the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and how, on the only TV set in the area, five miles away, they might watch it. So, Lomong and friends walked five miles to the black-and-white TV only to find out that, for each event you watched, you had to pay -- five shillings.

That day, Lopez Lomong saw sprinter Michael Johnson run and win, stand on the podium in a U.S. uniform and cry as his anthem was played. "I want to run as fast as that guy," Lomong says he thought. "And I want to wear that same uniform. I was so determined. I knew I could run. Running is what we do all our lives. It is part of our transportation."

On July 6, 2007, Lomong became an U.S. citizen. On July 6, 2008, he made the U.S. Olympic team. "It is what we call, 'Dream makes history,' " Lomong said.