"The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!"

Years ago when it seemed that ABC News was the only television network in the U.S. to offer coverage of the Olympic Games, the network opened its sports segments with a video montage showing various athletes winning or losing in their respective competitions. As the images of the athletes played across the screen, the voice of the late Jim McKay would announce, “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports . . . the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” Without a doubt, these words accurately depicted what so many athletes experience on the road to the Olympic Games. But no doubt many of us have often wondered not only where these men and women came from, but what happens to them after the games are over . . . after they return home?

For those athletes who hail from many of the African nations represented at the games, returning home can mean a return to poverty that is often a part of every day life. For others like Lopez Lomong, the Olympics will have affected them so much that their lives will be forever altered.

When watching the games this summer, look for Lopez. Lopez Lomong was one of the “Lost Boys of the Sudan” who walked more than 1,000 miles -- fleeing for their lives from those who would have killed them and so many others in Southern Sudan. After spending more than a decade in a refugee camp in Kenya, Lopez was re-settled in the U.S. by a humanitarian agency. But even here, he and so many other young men like him struggled to settle into this new country and surroundings. Now, life is quickly changing again. As a runner in the 1500 meter event, Lopez will be “running for gold” in Beijing. It is hard to say just who he is “representing” . . . the people of his new home in the U.S. -- or some of the thousands of other “lost children” who are still searching for hope . . . or maybe all of us?