Paris Olympics 2024: Despite all odds, Olympic Refugee Team prepares for its big moment

“Until now there have only been two moments in my life when I cried. One was when I left my mother and the other when I received the news to have been accepted into the first-ever IOC Olympic Refugee Team”, recalls Yiech Pur Biel from South Sudan, who is now living
in the United States.

At the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, a Refugee Olympic Team competed for the very first time and consisted of ten athletes. Biel competed in the men’s 800 metres. “It was a dramatic moment for me when I entered the Olympic Stadium in Rio at the opening ceremony. A moment I will never forget. The sound of the cheering crowds has still been ringing in my ears. Then I thought of all the other refugees in Kenya and my family and what I had been through to get here,” Biel told Eurosport.

800 meters runner, Yiech Pur Biel in Rio de Janerio

Biel had fled from his hometown Nasir. He ended up in one of the largest refugee camps, named ‘Kakuma’ in Kenya, with more than 179,000 people. “In the refugee camp, we have no facilities – even shoes we don’t have. Even the weather does not favour training because from morning until evening it is sunny and hot.” Despite the harsh conditions, Biel participated successfully at the athletics trials in Kakuma and was selected for the Olympic team.

Acknowledgment by IOC helps Refugee Olympic Team grow in number

With the participation of the first Refugee Team being well received, the IOC decided to extend their engagement for refugee athletes. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 29 athletes from twelve different disciplines represented the team, threefold in number compared to the 2016 Games. The IOC has awarded scholarships to refugee athletes to support them in their preparation and participation in the Olympics. To date, 73 refugee athletes have gained such a scholarship for the Olympics in Paris this year.

The Refugee Olympic Team at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.

The composition of this year’s Olympic Refugee Team is not finalised yet and will be announced during a special live-streamed event by the IOC President, Thomas Bach, on May 2nd. With the creation of such a team, the IOC intends to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis. Owing to various regional conflicts globally, the number of refugees worldwide rose to 114 million in 2023, the highest number ever. Each athlete must be recognised as a refugee in their host country by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

At the 2023 Judo World Championships in Doha, a refugee team participated for the first time to prepare for the Olympics. Iranian heavy-weight fighter Mahmoubeh Barbari Yharfi was part of the team. In 2018, she sought asylum in Germany and was the first Iranian Judoka competing without a hijab. Yharfi tells Deutsche Welle, “All top athletes would prefer to represent their national flag as part of the national team. However, sometimes this is not possible due to incomprehensible reasons. Therefore, setting up a refugee team is a wonderful gesture in the sense of the Olympic values.”

The dire situation of Afghan female athletes and how the Refugee Team has helped 29-year-old Afghan Nigara Shaheen is also part of the team. She has already represented the refugee team at the Tokyo Olympics. Her life, the first 18 years of which she spent as a refugee in Pakistan, is characterized by the story of being a refugee. She returned with her family to Afghanistan but escaped the Taliban and now trains in Canada. “Unfortunately participating in international competitions was impossible for me as a woman under the misogynist regime of the Taliban,” Shaheen said.

Nigara Shaheen competes against Brazilian Maria Portela at the Tokyo Olympics game.

Since their rise to power in August 2021, the Taliban have prohibited sport for girls and women, so female athletes were forced to either leave Afghanistan or give up their sport. The IOC Refugee Team has offered Afghan female athletes the option to continue competing. Yet the number of places for Afghan athletes within the team is limited. Currently, the IOC is supporting ten athletes from Afghanistan in different host countries for their Paris 2024 preparations.

Iranian Vahid Sarlak, a refugee himself in Germany, is the coach of the Judoka Refugee Team and is training his athletes for the big event. “When someone approaches you by saying, look, you are not alone. We are standing behind you and support you. Continue to pursue your dream. This is awesome”, Sarlak tells Sports Gazette on the official support by the IOC and the International Judo Federation.

Iranian Vhid Sarlak fights with Belgain Cedric Taymans in Cario.

Several athletes of the refugee team are from Syria, such as long-jumper Mohammad Amin Alsalami. He has been training at the Olympic team’s facilities in Berlin. “For me, this is such a huge thing. I’m so immensely grateful. My wish is simply to be there (in Paris). For this I have been fighting, since I have started with athletics”, he tells Sportschau.

Alsalami has mostly been in touch with his coach via video calls, as his coach regularly travels to different countries. “My situation is a little difficult, as I can’t accompany my coach to every country because I don’t have a valid passport and visas.”

Mohammad Amin Alsalami at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest.

The IOC refugee scholarship has given him the financial independence to focus entirely on the upcoming Olympic Games. The Syrian had fled to Turkey, returned to Syria again, and finished second in the Asian Championships. Then, the ongoing war in Syria and war-torn training facilities forced him to leave his home country.

The Olympic Refugee Team will inspire us with their resilience, telling their stories about war, dangerous escapes, and their strength as they aim for great results in their beloved sport. It also reflects the ongoing global migration crisis.