"They had guns," is almost all that Lopepe "Lopez" Lomong cares to remember. "I can feel madness in their faces."

He is 6 years old. The son of a farmer in the village of Boya in southern Sudan, he is the second of six children. One Sunday morning he and his parents attend Catholic Mass while his older brother remains at home to tend to the other siblings and the farm. The Janjaweed, the government militia from the north, raid the service, rifles drawn. Everyone is ordered to lie face-down on the floor.

And he is gone.

No one takes a short-cut to a berth on the United States Olympic team. Lopez Lomong may have journeyed further than anyone. From a village in Sudan to a horrific prison camp as a pawn in the midst of the Sudanese civil war. From an escape across the wilds of Africa to a decade spent in a Kenyan refugee camp. From salvation due to the grace of an altruistic couple in upstate New York to collegiate success in Flagstaff, Ariz.

On May 31 in New York, at the Reebok Grand Prix, Lomong won the 1,500-meter run. He will run the mile at Sunday's Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. (LIVE Sunday on NBC, 4 -6 p.m. ET)

On July 6 Lopez Lomong will take his place at the starting line in Eugene, Ore., for the final event of the U.S. Track and Field Trials, the 1,500m. Lomong, the NCAA 1500-meter champ in 2007, will stand beside 2004 Olympic silver medalist Bernard Lagat (then of Kenya, now a U.S. citizen), and Alan Webb, the U.S. record-holder in the mile. Pressure? He will feel only joy.