IMMIGRANTS TO REPRESENT USA IN OLYMPICS
Jim Hite

Every once in awhile, something happens that breaks through the cynicism seemingly so prevalent in this day and time. We have so many clichés that have become worn and threadbare that they seem to have little real meaning anymore.

But a couple of clichés burst through that wall of cynicism and negativism on July 6 out in Eugene, Oregon, when the United States named the athletes who will compete for the USA in the Beijing Olympics in the 1500 meters.

These were the men who placed first, second, and third in the 1500m Olympic Trials finals.

The bronze medal winner is from Kimotong, Sudan. At the age of 6, government militia forcibly took him from his family and trained him as a soldier. He escaped to a refugee camp in Kenya and at age 16, was relocated to New York. He was one of the "lost boys" of the Sudan.

The silver medal winner is from a farming village outside Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico. Living in a one-room adobe hut, his father crossed the Rio Grande several times to find work. He and his family settled in Marble Falls, Texas, when his son was 4 years old.

The gold medal winner was born in Kenya. He received a track scholarship to Washington State and competed for Kenya after college, winning Olympic bronze in 2000 and silver in 2004, all the time doing everything he could to become a U.S. citizen, which he finally did two years ago.

The US Olympic team: Lopez Lomong (third), Leo Manzano (second), Bernard Lagat (US champion).

Following the race, Manzano was quoted as saying: "It's kind of like the American dream" (cliché). Lagat added: "That's why America is a melting pot" (cliché).

All three naturalized citizens will wear the USA uniform in Beijing.

There is much more to the story of each one, but suffice it to say that the makeup of this one small part of our track and field team is a story in itself. Lagat wanted to run for the USA but could not do so until he was naturalized. Manzano, who just graduated from the University of Texas, was approached by Mexican Olympic officials asking him to run for his birth country, an invitation he declined. "I know where my heart is," he said. "This is my country, my home." And one can only imagine the memories that flooded the mind of Lomong, the former child soldier and refugee from the Sudan, as he joined the other two carrying an American flag in a victory lap before 20,000 cheering fans at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.

Some may think this is not a good thing, that these are "outsiders." Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. But as a descen- dant of refugees, albeit some who arrived well over a century ago, I beg to differ.

When we read the names of those on OUR team, we'll see they reflect many cultures, many countries. This is also true when we read the names of those killed in Iraq or the names on the Vietnam Memorial.

It is not only "they" who are refugees from different cultures and countries.

For if we really understand and realize our own personal history, each one of us must give prayerful thanks to those refugees who began our own family history in this marvelous country we call our home.

And with the thousands of Americans who will be present in Beijing, we'll shout, "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!"