They will participate in track and field events, swimming and judo.
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Following the approval of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOCs strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, and in light of the current global refugee crisis, the IOC also created a special fund of United States dollars 2 million to develop relief projects through sport in collaboration with NOCs around the world. “When it comes to sport, you just have to compete to be at the top”.
The ten athletes were selected from a pool of 43 candidates.
All of the athletes nominated for the Refugee Olympic Team were required to meet athletic standards specific to their sports-and have their refugee status verified by the United Nations-to be eligible for the team, the first of its kind. She’s been training with the Tegla Loroupe Foundation (named after her current coach) ever since.
Popole Misenga (male): Country of origin – Democratic Republic of the Congo; host NOC – Brazil; sport – judo (-90kg). “It helped me escape war, to take another path”, Mabika told The Guardian in January.
Boxing Canada president Pat Fiacco said in a statement that he was among the overwhelming majority to vote in favour of alowing pros to fight alongside amateurs at the Olympics at a meeting of the sports governing body AIBA this week. Chiengjiek fled his home in 2002 before he could be selected to fight in the same war.
A marathon runner from Ethiopia will join in this team. The 36-year-old marathoner from Ethiopia, who now lives in Luxembourg, qualified for the Rio Olympics in October 2015 during the Frankfurt Marathon. The cornerstone of the campaign is a petition asking governments to ensure that every refugee child gets an education, that every refugee family has somewhere safe to live, and that every refugee can work or learn new skills to make a positive contribution to their community, UNHCR said.
Women – Anjelina Nada Lohalith (South Sudan), track; Rose Nathike Lokonyen (South Sudan), track; Yolande Bukasa Mabika (Democratic Republic of the Congo), judo; Yusra Mardini (Syria), swimming. The Olympic anthem will be played in their honour and the Olympic flag will lead them into the Olympic Stadium.
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· The IOC will provide them uniforms. Additionally, athletes from former Soviet republics competed as the “Unified Team” in the 1992 Winter and Summer Olympics. They will officially be known as the Refugee Olympic Team.
