The Refugee Olympic Team is a group made up of independent Olympic participants living as refugees. In March 2016, the 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 to raise global awareness of the migrant crisis scale in Europe. In September 2017, the IOC established the Olympic Refugee Foundation to continue supporting refugees in the long term.[1][2] This special nation has been present in every Summer Olympics since 2016, but it has yet to made a Winter Olympics appearance.
The Olympic flag and the Olympic hymn are used as team symbols. As the participating athletes marched through the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics, the team entered the stadium as the penultimate delegation before the host country. At the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, the team entered the stadium second only to Greece.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, the IOC's country code (ROT) was used, but at the 2020 Summer Olympics it was updated to (EOR) for French Équipe olympique des réfugiés. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, 37 athletes will compete in 12 sports and 39 events.
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.[3]
References[]
- ↑ IOC Refugee Olympic Team. International Olympic Committee.
- ↑ Refugee Olympic Team to Shine Spotlight On Worldwide Refugee Crisis. International Olympic Committee (3 June 2016). Retrieved on 3 June 2016.
- ↑ "Refugee Olympic team awarded prestigious Spanish prize", The Washington Post, 25 May 2022.