2008 Summer Olympic Games Season 1 Episode 1

The U.S. Olympic team chose as its flagbearer Lopez Lomong, a former refugee from Sudan who lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for a decade. He became a U.S. citizen in 2007 and made the Olympic team as a member of the 1,500-meter squad in July 2008.

The selection of Lomong is widely seen as a message of protest over the Chinese government's backing of the government of Sudan. Government-supported militia groups have attacked bands of rebels and civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan, leading to an estimated 200,000 deaths in recent years.