(ATR) The IOC is creating a team of refugee Olympic athletes to compete at this summer’s Games.
President Thomas Bach told a press conference in Lausanne on Wednesday that 43 athletes had been identified. He said he expected five to 10 athletes to be selected to participate as ‘Team Refugee Olympic Athletes’ by the IOC executive board in June.
"By welcoming the team of Refugee Olympic Athletes to the Olympic Games Rio 2016, we want to send a message of hope for all refugees in our world," said Bach.
"Having no national team to belong to, having no flag to march behind, having no national anthem to be played, these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic anthem."
The athletes will be treated "like all the other teams of the 206 National Olympic Committees", according to the IOC.
Team ROA will have a welcome ceremony at the Olympic Village and be housed there with all the other 11,000 athletes from the world’s 206 NOCs. The team will march behind the Olympic flag before the host team Brazil at the opening ceremony.
A team entourage will be appointed by the IOC to meet all the required technical needs of the athletes, including a chef de mission, coaches and technical officials. Team uniforms will be provided by the IOC.
For possible medal ceremonies, the Olympic flag will be raised and the Olympic anthem played.
Bach confirmed that Olympic Solidarity will cover travel and other participation expenses for the team of refugee athletes and continue to support them after the Games.
The IOC last year created a special fund of $2 million to help refugees amid the worldwide migrant crisis. More than 15 NOCs have made use of this fund and helped identify refugee athletes with the potential to qualify for the Olympics.
Three potential refugee Olympic athletes were identified by the IOC in December, drawn from migrants fleeing the war in Syria and other conflict zones.
"I think we are all touched and moved by the magnitude of the worldwide refugee crisis," Bach told reporters. "This is why we started to identify refugee athletes who could potentially qualify for the Olympic Games.
"Today we have 43 promising athletes identified whom we now assist with our programs of Olympic Solidarity," Bach added, saying he had "a gut feeling" the final team would consist of up to 10 athletes.
The selection criteria for refugee athletes includes sporting level, official refugee status verified by the United Nations, and personal situation and background.
Syrian Athlete
One of the athletes identified is 17-year-old Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini who fled to Germany with her family and who is currently training with Wasserfreunde Spandau 04/Berlin.
A media briefing is taking place on March 18 in Berlin where reporters are invited to speak with Yusra and her coach Sven Spannekrebs. Also present will be Pere Miro, the IOC’s deputy director general of relations with the Olympic Movement and director of Olympic Solidarity and NOC relations.
Miro will talk about the IOC’s initiative, while CEO of the German Olympic Sports Confederation Michael Vesper and other officials will discuss refugees and sport in Germany.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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