LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The refugee team for the Paris Olympics will include 36 athletes from 11 countries competing in 12 sports.
They were selected from more than 70 scholarships, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said in announcing the team on Thursday.
Rather than competing under the Olympic flag, the refugees have their own emblem with a heart in the center surrounded by arrows, symbolizing how lost refugees find their way home. . The team will be known by the acronym “EOR”, which stands for its French name “Équipe Olympique des Réfugiés”.
“Having a unique emblem creates a sense of belonging and also gives us the power to represent over 100 million people who share the same experience,” said Masooma Ali Zada (Afghanistan), mission chef for the women's cycling team. Ta. “I can't wait to wear it proudly” at the Tokyo Games.
The competition, which begins on July 24, will see 23 men and 13 women compete in track and field, badminton, boxing, breaking, canoeing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Among the women are boxer Cindy Gamba and Ethiopian runner Farida Abaloge. Among them are Iranian taekwondo player Kasra Mehdipurnejad, who lives in Germany, and Venezuelan shooter Edilio Francisco Centeno Nieves.
“It's an Olympic dream come true,” Mehdipurnejad said.
On Tuesday, the team's third runner tested positive for doping and was suspended.
The Refugee Team was created by the IOC for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics to allow athletes to continue competing even if they are forced to leave their home country.
Ten athletes took part in Rio, with Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini being the first to compete. Three years ago in Tokyo, there were 29 people in 12 sports.
