Team Darfur Updates

Team Darfur triathlete and Special Representative to the UN World Tourism Organization ST-EP Foundation attended the Beijing Games as a supporter of the US Team and a high-level panelist.  

On her website, Tracy describes her experiences:

Tracy was proud to be attending the Beijing Olympic Games as member of Team Darfur, a coalition of professional athletes committed to ending the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Although athletes faced significant restrictions to speaking out about human rights at the Olympics, Team Darfur athletes still ensured that the Olympic dream reached out to the people of Darfur.

Dominic Luka is a senior at Norfolk State University where he has excelled in Track and Field. One of the "Lost Boys" Dominic is now the reigning cross-country and 1,500-meter champion in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Dominic has also excelled in the javelin. Dominic is majoring in management information systems and will graduate next December.

We asked Dominic why he joined Team Darfur and this is what he had to say:

It has now been 5 years since the Genocide in Darfur and there is no change happening there. We need a change in Darfur. The reason why I joined Team Darfur was to put my effort and support to help put an end to the Genocide in Darfur. I was always disturbed by the Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir for denying the Darfur Genocide.  Reading everyday on the news at www.sudan.net, "The United Nation says up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since the conflict erupted in February 2003. But the Sudanese Government says only 10,000 have been killed."

I thank God for helping me come to the great land of opportunity. I was once like those who are suffering in Darfur. But God help me through and brought me here. I'm pray that one day one time God will do the same miracle to the people of Darfur. He will show them the way and the bright light to a better future.

The Olympic flame was lit in my heart as a teenager when I read a book by Gold medal rower Brad Lewis called "Assault on Lake Cassidas." After starting my quest as a rower, I eventually turned to archery. For the past eleven years the Olympics have defined the decisions I have made, large and small.

The pursuit of excellence has challenged my faith and my commitment to persevere. It has taught me to stick up for myself and then to stand for causes greater than myself. One such cause is Darfur. 

Although I have been to two Olympics, Athens and Beijing, it was not in the capacity that I had hoped. In 2004, I was a spectator attending the games so that I might gain valuable experience for my anticipated trip as an athlete four years later. The Olympiad came and went but a tear in my teres minor postponed my dreams yet again. Determined to go to China, I took a job as a journalist.

In Beijing, being a journalist was surprisingly similar to being an athlete. Like an athlete, I had my own uniform and I even lived in a village. I had accreditation and access to restricted areas. But unlike an athlete, I was able to experience the other side of the fence, looking for story angles and seeking out good quotes. Aiming to get things done under deadline was a performance in and of itself.

As it turns out, I didn't know how lucky I was to be in China. Just days earlier, another member of Team Darfur who was supposed to work in a similar position to me had been denied a visa and was forced to stay in the United States. While I was at the Olympics both Joey Cheek and Brad Greiner, the co-founders of Team Darfur, had their visas denied.

No sooner had I arrived than I was told to remove my "Pray for China" wristband and asked not wear my Team Darfur clothes. Having freedom taken away from me for the first time in my life was an eye opener. On July 19^th, two days after arriving in Beijing, I wrote in my journal, "I'm glad that my heart is hurting. For the first time since I started learning about Darfur, it matters so much that the violence stops because I don't have the freedom to express it.

Although athletes faced significant restrictions to speaking out about human rights at the Olympics, Team Darfur athletes ensured that the Olympic dream reached out to the people of Darfur.  

Four Team Darfur athletes were honored by their teammates and named to carry their nation's flag into the opening ceremonies, including Lopez Lomong who carried the US flag.  

Team Darfur members met on the last day of the Games to sign the Olympic Truce wall (see photo at right).  

Team Darfur members did interviews when they could, including Canadian soccer players and Team Darfur athletes there as reporters.

Team Darfur athletes were represented on high level panels about the power of sport to help create peace around the world.  

For the past few days I have found myself reading "Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond" a book by actor Don Cheadle and activist John Prendergast. I've had the book now for a few months thanks to my joining Team Darfur, and although I wanted to continue to take an active part in all that Team Darfur and the Save Darfur group are doing to bring an end to the conflict, the book just sat on my shelf. I wear my Team Darfur wristband everyday, especially during training or when I'm at any event as an athlete. But still, the book sat on the shelf. But there was something about the haunting look in the little child's eyes on the cover of the book and I knew that I needed to sit down and read.

And I couldn't stop.

Christian Williams is a National level hammer thrower and member of the Australian Men's Lacrosse team. Williams is also a former U19 & U21 Australian team captain. Just recently he was chosen to be a torchbearer for the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay. He has overcome many obstacles as an athlete, but also as a human being, as he has struggled with heart failure and genetic heart disease. Currently, Williams is an athlete, motivational speaker and elementary school teacher.

When asked why he joined Team Darfure, Williams said, "I joined Team Darfur because I believe that all children have the right to dream and make the most of their potential, in all walks of life. It is disturbing that the world sits back to watch the children of Darfur suffer. Instead of living their childhoods, they live in fear, suffer malnutrition and are subject to politically motivated genocide."

"As athletes, we can give these children a voice on a global stage and help make a difference; so that they can live their dreams, just like us."

Beijing-My time here in Beijing has flown by; I cannot believe that I leave tomorrow. Just two weeks ago, I wondered if I would even make it on the plane. Now I am already in reflective mode.

My role here in Beijing has been to cover swimming for a Canadian swimming magazine, and as writer I received media accreditation through the Canadian Olympic Committee. However, two days before my flight, I got the call that Joey Cheek's visa had been withdrawn. I thought I would be next, especially after Kendra Zanotto, who was supposed to be in Beijing to work as a synchronized swimming reporter had had her visa denied as well. Fortunately, I was admitted, and I have been able to witness perhaps the greatest swimming competition in history and had the opportunity to once again celebrate the Olympic Games.

About Chris: Chris Boyles is an elite decathlete and member of Team Darfur.  Chris was planning to go to Beijing to serve as "media" guy for Dr. Draeger’s a prominent doctor for decathletes (www.goldmedalmotion.com) and to support friend and 3x Olympic decathlete Tom Pappas (www.decatom.com). On July 24, he was granted a Visa to go to China. On the 28th, he received a phone call telling him that his Visa was no longer valid. He was told that he had to resubmit his Visa application. He was denied and instructed to drive to the Chinese Consulate in DC. He had to fly in from Kansas (was at a track & field competition). Once there, he was told that they couldn't even accept the form because he had been previously denied. Chris has done a number of interviews since his visa revocation, and has seized his new opportunity to speakup about the plight of the people of Darfur. 

It's the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, and Canada has just walked in.  Ever since I can remember watching the Olympics it was this moment that filled me with excitement, anticipation, and pride.  I'm lucky enough to call myself an Olympian, and even luckier to have been one who was in the hunt for a medal (sadly missing a third place finish in Torino by 3 hundredths of a second.)

I often ask myself what it means to be an Olympian and why the Olympics represents such grandeur in my (and the worlds') eyes.  I suppose its the chance to achieve an ideal, a level of excellence, the chance to inspire a nation, and the chance to rise above politics, war, and discrimination, to a playing field that comes down to hard work, dedication, and a pure connection to the moment and movement that is sport. 

72 Team Darfur athletes are competing in this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. You can send them messages of support through our Take Action page. We are so proud of all that our athletes have already accomplished. Here are a few of the messages fans have already sent:

- Courtney Petersen

Read more of the messages of support that have been sent so far.