IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024: “We will make refugees proud around the world, and we will make them smile”

Created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ahead of the Olympic Games Rio 2016, when 10 refugee athletes made history competing under the Olympic flag, the Refugee Olympic Team has grown in size, with Paris 2024 seeing the biggest-ever delegation. Now, with its own emblem, the team includes 37 athletes:

• Hosted by 15 National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
• Competing in 12 different sports: athletics, badminton, boxing, breaking, canoeing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
• Boxer Cindy Ngamba and taekwondo athlete Yahya Al-Ghotany were the flagbearers for the team at the Opening Ceremony.

“These athletes are already winners”

Masomah Ali Zada, who was part of the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 competing in road cycling, has since become a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, and was appointed Chef de Mission for the team at Paris 2024.

“For the last two weeks, I have had the opportunity to spend time and meet athletes on the Refugee Olympic Team, and have been inspired by their commitment,” said Ali Zada, who oversaw a successful pre-Olympic welcome event in the French town of Bayeux.

“I’m a proud member of the Refugee Olympic Team”

Canoe sprint athlete and Refugee Team member Saman Soltani is staying in the Olympic Village and preparing to compete in the women’s 500m event.

Soltani left Iran two years ago and has been living in Austria while continuing to train towards Paris 2024 with the support of the IOC, delivered through Olympic Solidarity funding and support from the Olympic Refuge Foundation. She recalls some of the challenges she has overcome to reach the Games, and what it has meant to her to be welcomed into the Refugee Olympic Team.

“As a refugee, it’s hard for me to accept that I lost everything in my previous life,” Soltani explained. “When I entered Austria, I had difficulties learning a new language, making new friends and integrating in that culture, but also to follow my dream, which was to participate at the Olympic Games. Without the support of the IOC and the Olympic Refuge Foundation, it would not have been possible to make my dream happen.

Refugee Olympic Team by the numbers

The IOC’s support for the Refugee Olympic Team is not limited to the two-week period of the Olympic Games, with athletes receiving year-round financial and practical support to aid them in their efforts to qualify for the Olympic Games and integrate into their host countries. A total of:

• 74 athletes were supported by Olympic Solidarity’s Refugee Athlete Support programme over the past Olympic cycle, with 37 of them being selected for the Paris 2024 team; and
• USD 6 million has been invested in Refugee Athlete scholarships since Rio 2016.

Paris 2024 has also seen some notable “firsts” for the team:

• The Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) is now serving as an NOC.
• The team, which is competing under the acronym of EOR, from the French équipe olympique des réfugiés, for the first time has its own emblem – featuring a heart at its centre – to unify the athletes, as well as its own pin design.
• A new webpage launched ahead of Paris 2024 is providing dedicated coverage of the team, while the digital ‘1 in 100 million’ campaign has drawn attention to the plight of displaced people worldwide.
• Olympian Cyrille Tchatchet, who competed for the Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020 and is a trained mental health nurse, is working with the Team as one of Paris 2024 Welfare Officers.

Olympic Refuge Foundation

The IOC’s support for refugees also extends far beyond elite athletes to refugee communities all over the world, with programmes in place delivering support 365 days a year. These are managed and delivered by the Olympic Refugee Foundation (ORF), which was created by the IOC, in collaboration with UNHCR, in 2017 to continue its commitment to the protection, development and empowerment of children and young people in vulnerable situations through sport**.** Here are a few numbers illustrating the progress the Foundation has made since then and the breadth of its support:

• 132,600 young people have participated in ORF programme across 11 countries and five continents
• USD 23.9 million has been invested in supporting displaced people through sport
• 1,622 coaches have been trained in delivering safe sport sessions, and 152 safe sporting spaces have been created or improved
• 140 organisations have been mobilised through the Sport for Refugees Coalition

Find out more about the Olympic Refuge Foundation and its support for refugees around the world.

How the Refugee Olympic Team works

The majority of athletes on the Refugee Olympic Team are supported through the Refugee Athlete Scholarship Programme, which is managed by the ORF and funded by Olympic Solidarity. The IOC Executive Board selected the Refugee Olympic Team for Paris 2024. To be eligible, athletes must be elite competitors in their respective sport and be refugees in their host country, recognised by UNCHR, the UN Refugee Agency. Balanced representation in terms of sport, gender and regions are also taken into consideration.

Follow the Refugee Olympic Team on social media:

Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/RefugeeOlympicTeam/

Instagram page – https://www.instagram.com/refugeeolympicteam/

X account – https://twitter.com/refugeesolympic

LinkedIn page – https://www.linkedin.com/company/olympic-refuge-foundation/

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