The Refugee Olympic Team will participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris for the third time since its creation.
This year, the team is made up of 37 refugee athletes hosted by 15 National Olympic Committees and will be competing across 12 sports.
They come from 11 different countries of origin: Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea, the Congo, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Venezuela and Cuba.
The team goes by the abbreviation EOR, which stands for Equipe Olympique des Réfugiés—the French term for Refugee Olympic Team.
The refugee team will compete at a time of record global migration and increasingly charged anti-immigration sentiment around the world.
Speaking at a virtual meeting in May, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said that the team would serve as a message of hope for refugees worldwide.
“We welcome all of you with open arms. You are an enrichment to our Olympic Community, and to our societies,” he said.
“With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and excellence. This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world.”
The EOR was initially created for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and they also participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In order to be eligible, athletes must be high-level competitors in their respective sport and be refugees in their host country, as recognized by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
Many of the athletes on the team are supported through the Refugee Athlete Scholarship Programme, which provides the athletes with the support needed to train and compete.
This year the team’s leader, known as the Chef de Mission, is Masomah Ali Zada, a cyclist from Afghanistan.
She first competed as a member of the EOR in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Speaking about the appointment, Ali Zada said: “For me it is a source of pride to be able to represent not only the athletes and the team, but also the more-than 100 million displaced people around the world. In Paris, we have an opportunity to show the world what refugees are really capable of, and redefine the way the world sees us.”
Here is a full list of the athletes, what category they will compete in, and their country of origin:
- Dominic Lobalu – Athletics – South Sudan
- Dorian Keletela – Athletics – the Congo
- Musa Suliman – Athletics – Sudan
- Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed – Athletics – Sudan
- Tachlowini Gabriyesos – Athletics – Eritrea
- Mohammad Amin Alsalami – Athletics – Syria
- Perina Lokure – Athletics – South Sudan
- Farida Abaroge – Athletics – Ethiopia
- Dorsa Yavarivafa – Badminton – Iran
- Omid Ahmadisafa – Boxing – Iran
- Cindy Ngamba – Boxing – Cameroon
- Manizha Talash – Breaking – Afghanistan
- Amir Rezanejad Hassanjani – Canoe Slalom – Iran
- Fernando Dayan Jorge Enriquez – Canoe Sprint – Cuba
- Saeid Fazloula – Canoe Sprint – Iran
- Saman Soltani – Canoe Sprint – Iran
- Amir Ansari – Road Cycling – Afghanistan
- Eyeru Gebru – Cycling Road – Ethiopia
- Mohammad Rashnonezhad – Judo – Iran
- Arab Sibghatullah – Judo – Afghanistan
- Adnan Khankan – Judo – Syria
- Muna Dahouk – Judo – Syria
- Nigara Shaheen – Judo – Afghanistan
- Mahboubeh Barbari Zharfi – Judo – Iran
- Francisco Edilio Centeno Nieves – Shooting – Venezuela
- Luna Solomon – Shooting – Eritrea
- Alaa Maso – Swimming – Syria
- Matin Balsini – Swimming – Iran
- Hadi Tiran – Taekwondo – Iran
- Yahya Al-Ghotany – Taekwondo – Syria
- Farzad Mansouri – Taekwondo – Afghanistan
- Kasra Mehdipournejad – Taekwondo – Iran
- Dina Pouryounes Langeroudi – Taekwondo – Iran
- Ramiro Mora – Weightlifting – Cuba
- Yekta Jamali Galeh – Weightlifting – Iran
- Iman Mahdavi – Wrestling – Iran
- Jamal Valizadeh – Wrestling – Iran
The refugee team invited runner Dominic Lobalu, originally from South Sudan, to compete as part of their team after he was disallowed from competing for his new home country Switzerland.
The IOC confirmed to Newsweek that Lobalu had accepted the offer and will be a member of the EOR.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
