Seven athletes receive new Refugee Athlete Scholarships
The seven, from four countries of origin, are now settled in five host countries and play six different sports between them.
Seven new athletes have been awarded Refugee Athlete Scholarships, following a meeting of the board of the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF).
The athletes, who come from four different countries of origin and are now settled in five different host countries, represent six different sports.
They are:
- Mahdi Ahmadian (table tennis, Iran, host NOC: Austria)
- Marzieh Hamidi (taekwondo, Afghanistan, host NOC: France)
- Yekta Jamali Galeh (weightlifting, Iran, host NOC: Germany)
- Kun Waar Liem (athletics, South Sudan, host NOC: Kenya)
- Kiruhura Emmanuel Ntagunga (athletics, Democratic Republic of the Congo, host NOC: Kenya)
- Jamal Valizadeh (wrestling, Iran, host NOC: France)
- Dorsa Yavarivafa (badminton, Iran, host NOC: Great Britain)
They will now be part of the Refugee Athlete Support programme to help with their training as they attempt to win selection for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.
The addition of the seven means there are now 53 Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders. Five previous scholarship holders are now part of the Athlete Career Transition programme, receiving grants from Olympic Solidarity.
The ORF Board members, led by ORF Chair and IOC President Thomas Bach, also visited the ORF's flagship programme in Paris, Terrains d’Avenir. The programme aims to help 7,000 young displaced people access sport by 2025. IOC President Bach also invited 10 young people from the Terrains d’Avenir programme to attend an event with him at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to support the Refugee Olympic Team.
IOC President Bach said: "The athletes of the Refugee Olympic Team demonstrate to a global audience that we are all part of the same humanity.
"Their participation in the Olympic Games is a clear signal that refugees are our fellow human beings – that they are an enrichment to society just as they are an enrichment to our Olympic community.
"Through its work the Olympic Refuge Foundation will connect the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with displaced communities, and in particular refugees who live in and around Paris."