Black Olympians: Winning on the Road Less Traveled

By: Jeff Johnson | Posted: August 3, 2012 at 12:09 AM

Cullen Jones (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

BlackAmericaWeb's Jeff Johnson says that some of the most interesting London 2012 stories are about "brothers and sisters in sports that traditionally don't see us going for the gold."

The 2012 London Olympics are well underway and if you have not had or taken the time to watch any of the hours of coverage being broadcast by all of NBC's platforms, you have missed a lot. But if you missed the opening ceremony, in my opinion you didn't miss an event with the abstractly choreographed splendor of the Beijing Olympics. As someone born in the UK, I appreciated the world being introduced to British culture, but was most surprised that the main characters in English film producer Danny Boyle's production were of African descent.

The U.S. Olympic team also has some brothers and sisters in sports that traditionally don't see us going for the gold that I think, win or lose, you have to check out both their skill and their stories ...

And finally, there is a brother I really want you to check out. But this Haitian-American competing for Haiti is inspirational not just because he is going for the gold in the triple jump. But Samyr Laine, the lawyer, the Harvard, Georgetown and University of Texas grad represents excellence on and off the track ...

This takes nothing from the brothers and sisters in the games that play neither basketball or run track, nor the non-black athletes at the Games. All are champions who should be celebrated. These five athletes illustrate that we can take the road less traveled and win. Let's watch them, cheer for them, but also use them as an example in our own lives to do what others won't to win the Gold. I believe we all can.

Read Jeff Johnson's entire piece at BlackAmericaWeb.

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