BUENOS AIRES: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced there will be a Olympic team made up of refugees at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, as happened in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
This decision was taken today at the 133rd IOC Session on the sidelines of the Youth Olympic Games 2018 being hosted in the Argentine capital. The initiative is a continuation of the IOC’s commitment to play its part in addressing the global refugee crisis and another opportunity to continue to convey the message of solidarity and hope to millions of refugee and internally displaced athletes around the world, the IOC stated.
The IOC Session has mandated Olympic Solidarity to establish the conditions for participation and define the identification and selection process of the team. These elements will be carried out in close collaboration with the National Olympic Committees, the International Sport Federations, the Organising Committee Tokyo 2020 and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
The announcement of the Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020 members will be made in 2020.
“Last time (at the 2016 Rio Olympics) we were under very high time pressure. Now we have two years. We have already taken precautions… and we have a pool of athletes in place. Already now we’re supporting 51 or 52 refugee athletes who we have identified. This pool can still grow in the run-up to Tokyo 2020,” IOC president Thomas Bach of Germany said at the close of the 133rd IOC Session, which ended on Tuesday in the Argentine capital.
Bach added: “In an ideal world, we would not need to have a Refugee Team at the Olympic Games. But, unfortunately, the reasons why we first created a Refugee Olympic Team before the Olympic Games Rio 2016 continue to persist. We will do our utmost to welcome refugee athletes and give them a home and a flag in the Olympic Village in Tokyo with all the Olympic athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees. This is the continuation of an exciting, human and Olympic journey, and a reminder to refugees that they are not forgotten.”
UNHCR high commissioner Filippo Grandi commended the decision: “In 2016, the Rio refugee team captured the imagination of people around the world and showed the human side of the global refugee crisis through sport. I’m delighted that this tradition is to continue in Tokyo. Giving these exceptional young people the opportunity to compete at the very highest levels is admirable.”
Back in 2015, the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team was formed by the IOC. Ten athletes were chosen – two swimmers, two judokas, a marathon runner and five middle-distance runners who originally hailed from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since the Olympic Games, the IOC has continued to support these 10 Refugee Olympians, as well as a number of other refugee athletes across five continents via Olympic Solidarity’s Refugee Athlete Support Programme. Through scholarships, which come in the form of monthly training grants and fixed competition subsidies, Olympic Solidarity and their host National Olympic Committees help these refugee athletes to prepare for and participate in national and international competitions. UNHCR, through its long term collaboration with the IOC, plays a crucial role in all stages of selection, approval and follow up of the athletes.
Furthermore, in September 2017, the IOC launched the Olympic Refuge Foundation to support more broadly the protection and empowerment of vulnerable displaced people through sport and through the creation of safe spaces; again, partnering with UNHCR and local implementation partners in the field.
For the last 20 years, and with the collaboration of UNHCR, the IOC has been providing relief to refugees and internally displaced people by using the power of sport to promote youth development, education, social integration and health.
