The IOC welcomed the Refugee Olympic Team before the Paris 2024 Summer Games started.
IOC welcomes the refugee Olympics team ahead of the Paris 2024 games
Masomah Ali Zada, Chef de Mission for the Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024, delivers a speech during the inauguration of the Olympic Truce Wall in the Olympic Villag
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A total of 37 athletes from 15 nations and regions comprise this year's Refugee Olympic Team, and they will participate in 12 events during the Games which run from July 26 until August 11.
The refugee team met in Normandy for a pre-Games camp that saw them using facilities in Bayeux.
"As our president said, the team has grown a lot since I competed in 2016 with nine fellow teammates. Unfortunately, so too are the number of people forced from their homes due to the ever-increasing war, conflict, and persecution across the globe. Thanks to the president for his vision and all of you for helping to make it a reality. I am deeply grateful and also proud to be here today," said Yiech Pur Biel, the Olympic Refugee Foundation board member.
The team was happy to participate in this year's Olympics.
"This is my first Olympic Games and my biggest dream that has come true. I'm so happy and proud that I'm here, part of this team, and I hope one day I win a gold medal in Olympic Games. I want to thank IOC members, President (Thomas) Bach and the Olympic Refuge Foundation and everyone who helped us follow our dream here and I want to say that we made it. Thank you," said Saman Soltani, a Refugee Olympic Team athlete
Paris 2024 will mark the third appearance of the Refugee Olympic Team following on from the the 29 athletes that competed in the post-pandemic Games in Tokyo and the inaugural 10-member squad in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.