In August 2016, refugee athletes competed in the Olympic Games for the first time in history. The announcement was made by the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in October 2015. Despite having no national flags or national anthems to be played, the refugee athletes were welcomed to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic anthem.
The participation of refugees in the Olympics lies in Principle No. 4 of the Olympics Charter: “The practice of sports is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sports, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”
UNHCR forged a partnership with the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation which aimed at identifying, mentoring and training talented refugee athletes in Kenya. The Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation is a registered organization founded by Tegla Chepkite Loroupe, a renowned Kenyan athlete.
Between mid-2015 and early 2016, the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation helped in the selection of 29 male and female athletes from South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and DRC through trials held at both Kakuma and Dadaab. The Foundation which is also supported by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) trained these athletes at a training facility in Ngong’ Nairobi.
On 19th May 2016, the Tegla Loroupe Foundation in collaboration with the National Olympics Committee organised trials for all athletes at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi. From these trials, 10 of best performers were selected and their names were forwarded to the National Olympics Committee. The IOC then selected the five (5) refugee athletes from Kakuma to join the rest of the Refugee Olympics team in Rio de Jenairo.
ATHLETE REFUGEE TEAM’S JOURNEY CONTINUES WITH WORLD RELAYS DEBUT
“Sport is for peace,” says Nyang. “There should be no corruption, no tribalism, just peace when we compete. It was hard for us to get here but we are really thankful to the Tegla Peace Foundation and the IAAF for all their help.”
Refugee Olympic Team makes history at Rio Games
The young athletes, originally from South Sudan, Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia, have won friends and admirers in Brazil with amazing tales of triumph over adversity.
Ambassador Tegla Loroupe Honoured as UN Person of the Year in Kenya
Her journey with refugees began in 2014 when she took peace efforts to refugee camps in Kenya where she discovered a great interest in athletics among refugee communities.