The Olympic refugee team has stated that while they are equally focused on winning medals, they are also conscious that their voices will be heard globally at the Paris Games, raising awareness of the millions of displaced people.
With 37 athletes, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has put together the largest refugee squad to date for the 2024 Games. The athletes come from various nations including Syria, Sudan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Iran, and Afghanistan. These athletes will compete in 12 different sports in Paris.
Cameroon-born boxer Cindy Ngamba, team leader, declared: “Just for our name ‘refugee Olympic team’ to be called out, refugees all around the world will acknowledge us… We are seen as a team, we are seen as athletes, as fighters, hungry athletes who are part of a family.”
The athlete added: “We are not afraid, not ashamed and are proud to be refugees. We know we are not with them but we can feel the energy.”
On having a refugee team in the Olympics
As hundreds of thousands of people were fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere, the IOC presented its first refugee team, consisting of ten athletes, for the Rio 2016 Olympics in an effort to raise awareness of the issue.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were held in 2021; with 29 competitors, the roster for the refugee squad was nearly three times larger than the Rio team. Now, the team in Paris is the largest, and they also have their own emblem.
“It matters 100 percent… The foundation is about the team, about a family. Being part of the unique family is what it is all about,” Ngamba said.
“We competed individually in the past, or 2-3 of us. Now we are a big group, a family going out there to represent the refugee team. We will hold our head high and be proud of the team we are part of… It shows we are not just refugees, we are athletes. (People) see us as refugees but forget we are athletes with the same goals as the other countries represented here. We can achieve the same thing, win the same thing, have the same drive, the same hunger and the same energy,” she added.
Yahya Al Ghotany, co-flagbearer, who was forced to leave war-torn Syria and will compete in taekwondo, said that the team was sending a message of hope. The athlete shared: “It is a wonderful feeling knowing I am representing many people who have gone through the same experience as me, just like me… Representing more than 100 million displaced people across the globe.”
Source: CNA