In front of World Refugee Day on 20 June 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has delivered the underlying rundown of 44 competitors who have been granted Olympic Scholarships for Refugee Athletes to assist them with preparing towards the objective of being chosen for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.
The 44 competitors come from 12 nations, are facilitated by 16 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) across each of the five mainlands, and are contending in 12 games. Of this underlying gathering, 23 are Olympians who contended as a component of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Rio 2016 or potentially Tokyo 2020, and three are individual competitors who are new to the grant program.
Tending to the competitors, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “We invite you to the Olympic people group and wish you karma in capability. I understand what a troublesome period it is to go through to fit the bill for the Olympic Games, thus we respect that you are meeting the test given every one of the hardships you have survived.”
The grants are completely financed by the IOC through its Olympic Solidarity program devoted to evacuee competitors, and will give the competitors the help they need to prepare and contend in capability competitions in the development to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Three of the athletes – badminton player Aram Mahmoud, weightlifter Cyrille Tchatchet, and marathon runner Tesfay Felfele – are benefitting from transition scholarships, as they have become or are in the process of becoming citizens of their host countries.
Coming from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, the Islamic Republic of Iran, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela, the Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders are competing in athletics, badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, judo, karate, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Their refugee status has been confirmed by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and they are being supported by 16 host NOCs (Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Portugal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, Turkey, United States of America, and Uruguay).