MOSCOW (AP) – Russia is confident that most of its Olympic team will be able to compete in Rio de Janeiro, but its efforts to reinstate banned athletes are a mixed bag.
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“I have two brothers that I haven’t seen for years”.
“Under these exceptional circumstances, Russian athletes in any of the 28 Olympic summer sports have to assume the consequences of what amounts to a collective responsibility in order to protect the credibility of the Olympic competitions, and the “presumption of innocence” can not be applied to them”, added the IWF. “I don’t know what they look like anymore because we were separated since we were small”.
The 24-year-old broke down in tears when he was asked to comment on what message he hoped to send through his Olympic participation. “This team is my family now”.
“We’re fighting for all the refugees in the world”, he said. “I didn’t have anything to eat, I didn’t have papers, I spoke only French and I went to the street to get food”, he said.
Misenga was nine years old when he fled fighting in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But she’s in grief over losing her country.
“I am not sad that I can not carry the flag of my country because I represent refugees around the world and so I am competing under the flag of all their countries”, he said.
She also cried as she described refugees as forgotten people. “I represent all the refugees around the world”, he said. “We are going to show that the refugee is capable of doing everything that other people around the world do”.
The Olympic refugees are superb athletes, but no one expects a medal from them.
“Their country was broken, but they have the spirit of humanity, the spirit of athletes”, said Tegla Loroupe, the head of the delegation and a three-time Olympian from Kenya.
Her real family, she hasn’t seen for 18 years. I am going in this competition to represent all refugees. I will never forget this moment.
Mardini is joined in the refugee ranks by another Syrian swimmer, Rami Anis. He still talks of competing for his country of birth – maybe at the next Olympics.
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“I think it is possible to win against everybody”, said Shibaev.
