Tokyo Olympics: IOC Refugee Team first full squad named for 2020 Games
- Chef de Mission Tegla Loroupe says the Covid-19 pandemic has ‘turned all the world’s population into refugees’ as they battle the global scourge
- The 29 athletes have their origins in 10 countries and have been selected from the IOC’s Olympic Scholarships for Refugee Athletes programme
“We are all refugees because we are confined inside our small houses, we are protecting our noses, we are all wearing blue [face masks],” said Loroupe, a former world record holder who won the 2005 Hong Kong Marathon. “Whether we are the IOC president [Thomas Bach], we are refugees, we are anybody, we are wearing the same thing.”
As countries prepare their squads amid doubts about travelling to Japan where Covid-19 pandemic emergency measures are still in force, the Refugee team became the first official squad to be named for the July 23 to August 8 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Bach unveiled the 29 athletes from 10 countries who were selected from among dozens of refugee athletes supported by the IOC through the Olympic Scholarships for Refugee Athletes programme. The IOC hopes the squad’s presence in Tokyo will send a powerful message of solidarity and raise awareness to the plight of more than 80 million displaced people worldwide.
Loroupe returns as Chef de Mission for the team – a role she performed when the Refugee team made their Olympic debut in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Bach described watching the team from the tunnel at the 2016 opening ceremony as one of the most emotional moments of his sporting life.