The Refugee Team for the Paris Olympics will feature 36 athletes from 11 countries in 12 sports.
They were picked from more than 70 scholarships, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said at the team announcement on Thursday.
Instead of competing under the Olympic flag, the refugees have their own emblem featuring a heart at its centre, surrounded by arrows symbolizing how lost refugees can find their way back. The team will be known under the acronym EOR from the French name Equipe Olympique des Refugies.
“Having our own emblem creates a sense of belonging, and empowers us to also stand for the population of more than 100 million people who share this same experience,” said Masomah Ali Zada of Afghanistan, the team chef de mission who competed in women’s cycling at the Tokyo Games. “I cannot wait to wear it proudly.”
A total of 23 men and 13 women will compete in athletics, badminton, boxing, breaking, canoeing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling at the Games starting on July 24.
Among the athletes is Nigara Shaheen, a judo athlete who trains in Toronto.
Shaheen, 30, is from Afghanistan and grew up in Pakistan and moved to Toronto to train and attend college after competing for the refugee team in Tokyo’s 2021 Olympic Games.
‘My Olympic dream is coming true’
Shaheen competed in the women’s 70-kilogram category in Tokyo.
Kasra Mehdipournejad, an Iranian taekwondo athlete living in Germany, and shooter Edilio Francisco Centeno Nieves from Venezuela are among the men on the team.
“My Olympic dream is coming true,” Mehdipournejad said.
She moved to Toronto to train and attend college after competing for the refugee team in Tokyo in 2021 in the women’s women’s 70-kilogram category.
“Paris 2024 is very important as a refugee athlete, especially with the current world situation,” Shaheen said Thursday in a statement. “It is a chance for us to prove that refugees can be an asset too and I will utilize it to the fullest.”
She is among seven refugee athletes in Canada hosted by the Canadian Olympic Committee.
“An Olympian who stands up for what she believes in, Shaheen is also a determined and impressive advocate for women’s rights,” COC president Tricia Smith said.
“Her inspiring journey from Afghanistan to Canada gives hope to others and is a testament to resilience and the transformative power of sport.”
The refugee team was created by the IOC for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to allow athletes to keep competing, even if they have been forced to leave their home countries.
There were 10 athletes in Rio, with Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini becoming the first to compete. Three years ago in Tokyo the number was 29 across 12 sports.
