The Refugee Olympic Team is a group made up of independent Olympic participants who are refugees. In March 2016, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, as a symbol of hope for all refugees in the world in order to raise global awareness of the scale of the migrant crisis in Europe. In September 2017, the IOC established the Olympic Refuge Foundation to support refugees over the long term.
The Olympic flag and the Olympic Hymn are used as team symbols. The participating athletes marched in the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics, with the team entering the stadium as the penultimate delegation, just before the host country. At the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, the team entered the stadium second after Greece.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, the team used the IOC country code ROT. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, it was changed to EOR (an abbreviation of the French ). As of 2026, no Refugee Olympic athletes had participated in the Winter Olympic Games, nor Youth Olympic Games (regardless of Summer or Winter).
The team was awarded the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Sport for giving athletes the opportunity in conflict zones and places where human rights are violated, preventing them from performing their sporting and personal activities.
Cindy Ngamba, a refugee from Cameroon, became the first person to win an Olympic medal for the Refugee Olympic Team, winning a bronze medal in the women's 75kg boxing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Kimia Alizadeh, who represented the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2020 Summer Olympics, won bronze at the 2022 European Taekwondo Championships while representing the Refugee Team, after previously winning bronze for Iran at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and before winning bronze for Bulgaria at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Medal tables
Medals by Summer Games GamesAthletesGoldSilverBronzeTotalRank 10 0 0 0 0 – 29 0 0 0 0 – 37 0 0 1 1 84 future event Total 0 0 1 1 151
Medals by sport
List of medalists Medal Name Games Sport Event Boxing Women's middleweight
Participations This category was created in March 2016. The selection criteria include the sporting level, the official refugee status verified by the United Nations, the personal situation, and the background of each athlete.
2016 Summer Olympics
AthleteCountry of originHost NOCSportEvent James Chiengjiek Athletics 400 m Yiech Biel Athletics 800 m Paulo Lokoro Athletics 1500 m Yonas Kinde Athletics Marathon Popole Misenga Judo 90 kg Rami Anis Swimming 100 m butterfly Rose Lokonyen Athletics 800 m Anjelina Lohalith Athletics 1500 m Yolande Mabika Judo 70 kg Yusra Mardini Swimming 100 m butterfly
2020 Summer Olympics At its meeting in Buenos Aires in October 2018, the International Olympic Committee decided to establish the Refugee Olympic Team (EOR) for the 2020 Summer Olympics. This decision built on the legacy of the Refugee Olympic Team in 2016 and was part of the IOC's commitment to play its part in addressing the global refugee crisis and in carrying the message of solidarity and hope to millions of refugee athletes around the world.
The IOC Session tasked Olympic Solidarity with establishing the conditions of participation and defining the team identification and selection process. These elements were carried out in close collaboration with the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the International Sports Federations, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). On 20 June 2019, the IOC released the list of Refugee Athlete Scholarship holders who wished to join the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, Tokyo 2020. This announcement was made on World Athlete Day, celebrated every year on 20 June.
The 56 Refugee Athlete Scholarship holders include the 10 athletes who were part of the first Refugee Olympic Team in 2016, new individual athletes, and a group of athletes preparing at the Tegla Loroupe Refugee Training Center in Kenya. All were assisted by Olympic Solidarity as part of its support program for refugee athletes. The IOC Refugee Olympic Team at the 2020 Tokyo Games consisted of 29 athletes—19 men and 10 women—hailing from 11 nations: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela. These athletes competed across 12 sports: athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, canoeing, judo, karate, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Swimmer Yusra Mardini, who competed in the 2016 Rio Games as part of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team, and marathon runner Tachlowini Gabriyesos were selected as flag bearers for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team at the 2020 Tokyo Games. AthleteCountry of originHost NOCSportEvent Alaa Maso Swimming 50 m freestyle Yusra Mardini Swimming 100 m butterfly Dorian Keletela Athletics 100 m Rose Lokonyen Athletics 800 m James Chiengjiek Athletics 800 m Anjelina Lohalith Athletics 1500 m Paulo Amotun Lokoro Athletics 1500 m Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed Athletics 5000 m Tachlowini Gabriyesos Athletics Marathon Aram Mahmoud Badminton Men's singles Wessam Salamana Boxing 63 kg Eldric Sella Boxing 75 kg Saeid Fazloula Canoeing K-1 1000 m Masomah Ali Zada Cycling Time Trial Ahmad Wais Cycling Time Trial Sanda Aldass Judo Mixed team Ahmad Alikaj Judo Mixed team Muna Dahouk Judo Mixed team Javad Mahjoub Judo Mixed team Popole Misenga Judo Mixed team Nigara Shaheen Judo Mixed team Wael Shueb Karate Kata Hamoon Derafshipour Karate Kumite Luna Solomon Shooting 10 m air rifle Dina Pouryounes Taekwondo 49 kg Kimia Alizadeh Taekwondo 57 kg Abdullah Sediqi Taekwondo 68 kg Cyrille Fagat Tchatchet II Weightlifting 96 kg Aker Al-Obaidi Wrestling 67 kg
2024 Summer Olympics
AthleteCountry of originHost NOCSportEventDorian KeletelaAthleticsMen's 100 mMusa SulimanAthleticsMen's 800 mDominic Lokinyomo LobaluAthleticsMen's 5000 mJamal Abdelmaji Eisa MohammedAthleticsMen's 10,000 mTachlowini GabriyesosAthleticsMen's marathonMohammad Amin AlsalamiAthleticsMen's long jumpPerina Lokure NakangAthleticsWomen's 800 mFarida AbarogeAthleticsWomen's 1500 mDorsa YavarivafaBadmintonWomen's singlesOmid AhmadisafaBoxingMen's flyweight (51 kg)BoxingWomen's middleweight (75 kg)Manizha TalashBreakingB-GirlsAmir RezanejadCanoeingMen's slalom C-1Fernando JorgeCanoeingMen's sprint C-1 1000 mSaeid FazloulaCanoeingMen's sprint K-1 1000 mSaman SoltaniCanoeingWomen's sprint K-1 500 mAmir AnsariCyclingMen's road time trialEyeru Tesfoam GebruCyclingWomen's road raceMohammad RashnonezhadJudoMen's −60 kg, Mixed teamArab SibghatullahJudoMen's −81 kg, Mixed teamAdnan KhankanJudoMen's −100 kg, Mixed teamMuna DahoukJudoWomen's −57 kg, Mixed teamNigara ShaheenJudoWomen's −63 kg, Mixed teamMahboubeh Barbari ZharfiJudoWomen's +78 kg, Mixed teamEdilio Centeno NievesShootingMen's 10 m air pistolLuna SolomonShootingWomen's 10 m air rifleAlaa MasoSwimmingMen's 50 m freestyleYusuf MarwanSwimmingMen's 100 m butterflyMatin BalsiniSwimmingMen's 200 m butterflyHadi TiranvalipourTaekwondoMen's −58 kgYahya Al GhotanyTaekwondoMen's −68 kgFarzad MansouriTaekwondoMen's −80 kgKasra MehdipournejadTaekwondoMen's +80 kgDina PouryounesTaekwondoWomen's −49 kgRamiro Mora RomeroWeightliftingMen's −102 kgYekta JamaliWeightliftingWomen's −81 kgIman MahdaviWrestlingMen's freestyle −74 kgJamal ValizadehWrestlingMen's Greco-Roman −60 kg
See also EOC Refugee Team at the European Games Refugee Paralympic Team
References
External links
Yusra Mardini (2018). Butterfly; From Refugee to Olympian – My Story of Rescue, Hope, and Triumph, St. Martin's Publishing Group Runbin Wang, Gan Li (2018). Practice, Implementation and Idea Advocacy of the Rio Refugee Olympic Team in the View of Global Governance