Meet the inaugural IWF Weightlifting Refugee Team Athletes and their inspiring stories
The Federation announced a team of seven athletes as part of the IWF Refugee Team that begins preparations for the 2023 World Championships in Saudi Arabia in September.
Weightlifting
“I will win!”
Three simple words posted by Parisa Jahanfekrian on her social media but with deep and weighty meanings.
Denied her Olympic dream two years ago, the weightlifter has continued to gain muscle mass and build on her strength.
The Iranian qualified for Tokyo 2020, held in 2021. But she didn't make it to those Games, where she could have been the first Iranian female weightlifter to compete at the Olympics.
With her Olympic dream ruined she fled her home country and sought asylum in Germany.
Weightlifting remained her strength and solace.
On April 6, Jahanfekrian was named in the inaugural IWF Weightlifting Refugee Team, an initiative by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), hugely inspired by the success of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team at Rio 2016 and in Tokyo.
“During last year I faced many new and challenging things, but I tried to keep my focus. I am glad that finally I have a team and will be able to compete. I feel that I have found myself again,” she said in an interview with Olympics.com.
The suggestion to create a weightlifting refugee team to compete at the World Championships in Saudi Arabia was first presented to the IWF by Florian Sperl, a board member and president of the German Weightlifting Federation.
“The idea is to give refugees and athletes the opportunity to take part in a World Championships and to practise sport at the highest level,” Sperl told Olympics.com.
“They are people who have often experienced a lot of suffering and I wanted to do something good for them. They have lost their homes - it is even more important to support refugees in building a new life in safety. Sport offers a unique opportunity for social integration.”
IWF on the idea of creating a team for refugees
The IOC Refugee Olympic Team participation at the last two summer Olympic Games won hearts and minds. As Florian Sperl watched the IOC Refugee Olympic team at the traditional parade of athletes and teams in Tokyo, the German wondered what he could do to help.
Encouraged by the performance of refugee weightlifter Cyrille Tchtchet, a Cameroonian who sought refuge in Great Britain and finished 10th in Tokyo, he became more determined to keep the refugee issue high on the IWF agenda. He sought advice from Gonzalo Barrio, project manager of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
Gonzalo works with the International Federations to advise them and provide recommendations and best practice on how to incorporate a Refugee Team into national and international competitions. He also works with the Olympic Refugee Foundation that manages the IOC Refugee Olympic Team and the Refugee Athlete Support programme.
“After that conversation, I thought, why don't we as the IWF do such a great project. In October 2022, I sent the proposal to the President and Secretary General. In December, the EB unanimously approved the project, and I was appointed Refugee Liaison Officer.”
Last March, the IWF opened applications for refugee athletes with the hope of selecting four men and four women for the worlds. The response to the very intricate team planning was ‘very positive’.
“It's completely new for me, and for this I use the experience and expertise of the IOC on the one hand, but also of other international sports federations. For example, we have already had an exchange with the International Judo Federation,” Sperl explained of the new IWF team, the third Olympic sport after judo and athletics to have its own refugee team. Last year, the world swimming governing body, FINA, invited three refugee athletes to their World Championships in Budapest.
“The challenges [of putting together this team] include the doping issue and visa questions. We want to make sure that the refugees are properly trained and tested before they start.”
The IWF's refugee team begins training this April under coach Patric Bettembourg, the son of 1972 Olympic bronze medallist Hans Bettembourg, who is currently the head Coach of the Swedish youth and junior teams. His first task is to prepare the refugees for the Worlds in Saudi Arabia from 2-17 September.
Weightlifting refugee athlete Clementine Noumbissi: 'Never give up'
A huge weight has been lifted for athletes by the formation of the IWF Weightlifting Refugee Team.
“Weightlifting for me is not only a sport, to me it means life,” said Jahanfekrian, one of the pioneer female weightlifters in Iran. The Asian nation, which boasts of a strong weightlifting culture, had barred women from weightlifting until 2018.
“Competing is my identity. I feel like I found myself again.”
Clementine Noumbissi, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist who lifted for Cameroon at the Tokyo Olympics and now resides in France, is pleased to gain another platform to showcase her talent on the world stage.
“After a very difficult journey, I am very excited to be able to compete and reach out to all the other athletes who are going through difficult times that – ‘you should never give up or back down in front of obstacles’,” said the 32-year-old who also competed at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“I am very excited at the idea of being able to wear and defend the name and colours of the IWF Refugee Team, my new family.”
Also choosing to look on the bright side, and appreciating the invaluable opportunity to train to get even stronger, are two new teammates: Cuban born Addriel Garcia now based in Italy and Yemeni Fawaz Hussein who has settled in Saudi Arabia.
“I never thought I’ll have the chance to be able to participate again. In 2020 sadly I had to quit weightlifting. I had been selected to participate at World Championships in Rome,” offered Garcia.
“I had the chance to run away and seek for asylum in Italy. This allowed me to start a new life, but I didn’t participate at the competition, and this has been my biggest regret.”
“To be part of such a humanly important team is an honour and privilege.” Addriel Garcia – refugee from Cuba, living in Italy.
“[This opportunity] means that I should forget about the life that I lived in the past and focus on what I will be in the future,” Hussein from Yemen added.
Like the IOC Refugee Team, the goal for the IWF Refugee Team is also to send a message of hope and solidarity to millions of refugees around the world and celebrate their talents and the strength of their spirits.
“I would like to establish this as a long-term and sustainable programme in the IWF. In the future, it should be a fixed component at the world championships,” IWF board member Sperl underlined.
“Another goal of the project is to travel to international hotspots and refugee camps and to supply them with weightlifting equipment on site… because sport connects the world, and we also have to support our refugees.”
The full IWF Weightlifting Refugee Team announced in April 2023 - Women:
- Parisa Jahanfekrian (Iran/ Germany),
- Clementine Meukeugni Noumbissi (Cameroon/France),
- Aline de Souza (Brazil/USA),
- Monique Lima de Araujo (Brazil/USA).
The full IWF Weightlifting Refugee Team announced in April 2023 - Men:
- Addriel Garcia (Cuba/Italy),
- Fawaz Mohammed Saleh Hussein (Yemen/Saudi Arabia),
- Reza Rouhi (Iran/Great Britain).