By Victor Kanayo
Up to 37-member Refugee team are participating in the ongoing 2024 Olympic Games which kicked off on Friday night.
According to UN Refugee Agency, the team overcame extraordinary odds to reach the globe’s highest sporting stage, carrying the hopes of some 120 million displaced people worldwide.
The team were among thousands of others who journeyed down the Seine through the historic heart of a rainy Paris, cheered on by spectators lining both banks of the river, with the refugees’ boat second in a fleet of 94 carrying national delegations.
They received one of the biggest cheers of the evening.
UK-based boxer Cindy Ngamba and Yahya Al Ghotany, who practises taekwondo in Jordan’s Azraq Refugee Camp, were the team’s flag bearers.
Competition Mood
The refugee team will compete across 12 sports, each having beaten extraordinary odds to take their place at the world’s largest and most prestigious sporting event.
Over the next two weeks, they will represent the hopes and dreams of some 120 million forcibly displaced people worldwide.
Previously, refugees and asylum-seekers were largely excluded from competition at national, regional and international levels.
Inspiration For Better Outing
But since the first Refugee Olympic Team comprising 10 athletes competed at the Rio 2016 Games, capturing the imagination of sports fans around the world, more and more sports federations and associations have found ways to include refugee athletes and teams in major sporting events.
“At the Tokyo 2020 Games, 29 refugee athletes took part, including Masomah Ali Zada, who competed in road cycling. In Paris, she will lead the largest team yet as its Cheffe de Mission and spokesperson,” the Refugee agency said.
After missing out on medals’ table at the 2020, Masomah said the Refugee team will dazzle to podium finish this time.
