GENEVA/PARIS - As the 2024 Paris Olympic Games come to a close, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, paid tribute to the Refugee Olympic Team for the historic achievements of the past two weeks. This year’s Olympic Games marked a significant triumph for refugees worldwide, featuring the largest-ever refugee team and the first-ever medal for a Refugee Olympic Team athlete.
With 37 athletes competing in 12 different sports, this was the largest refugee team since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) created the first refugee team at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. These athletes, representing 120 million displaced people globally, showcased their talents, strength and determination on the world stage, bringing attention to the plight and potential of refugees.
The highlight of the Games was Cindy Ngamba’s historic bronze medal win in boxing at Roland Garros towards the end of the competition. Ngamba’s victory, marked by her proud display of the EOR logo on her vest and a roaring crowd chanting her name, was a monumental achievement for the Refugee Olympic Team.
Incredibly close to securing a podium finish at the Stade de France in the men’s 5,000m, Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu’s powerful performance is another example of what is possible when refugees are embedded into host country sport systems and given opportunities. Earlier this week, in the same stadium on the same night, Perina Lokure Nakang and Jamal Abdelmaji achieved personal bests in the women’s 800m and in the men’s 10,000m respectively, with a crowd of nearly 80,000 people cheering as they ran.
“These performances for the record-breaking Refugee Olympic Team are more than just numbers and positions,” said Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Kelly T. Clements, who watched the team compete in Paris.
“Ngamba is a history maker, and this medal is a testament to her courage and strength inside and outside of the ring. It symbolizes the enduring spirit of refugees and the power of sports to unite and inspire. As the Games draw to a close, let us all remember this team as a symbol of hope and unity.”
The warm welcome given to the refugee athletes by the sport-loving public, whether in the sport venues, the fan zones around Paris or the loud cheering as the team made its way along the river Seine during the Opening Ceremony, showed the widespread support they received, regardless of individual results.
“Sport is a powerful tool that protects and helps heal. These refugee athletes have overcome immense challenges, but their success is a reminder to the world of what can be achieved when refugees are given a helping hand to pursue their dreams,” said Clements. “As the Olympic flame is extinguished here in Paris, the legacy of the Refugee Olympic Team will continue to inspire us all."
UNHCR congratulates all the athletes of the Refugee Olympic Team for their remarkable performances and thanks the IOC and all supporters and partners for cheering for the team.
Attention will now turn to the Refugee Paralympic Team, comprising eight athletes and one guide runner, which will hope for more medals when the Paralympic Games begin on 28 August.
Media Contacts:
In Paris: Paula Barrachina Esteban, [emailprotected], +33 6 23 16 11 78
In Geneva: Mel Paramasivan, [emailprotected], +41 79 526 59 48
Notes to editors:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is partnering with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee and the Olympic Refuge Foundation to support refugees at the Games in Paris.
The first Refugee Olympic Team comprised 10 athletes at the Rio 2016 Games. For Tokyo, 29 athletes made the team, despite the restrictions of COVID.
The Refugee Olympic Team (l’Équipe Olympique des Réfugiés, EOR) in Paris is made up of 37 athletes, hosted by 15 National Olympic Committees: Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. They have competed in 12 sports: athletics, badminton, boxing, breaking, canoeing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
UNHCR believes in the power of sport to transform the lives of people forced to flee. It is much more than a leisure activity. It gives refugees the chance to heal, develop and grow. UNHCR partners with a range of local, national and international organizations to increase access to sport- and play-based activities for refugees. We work with sport, government, private sector, humanitarian, civil society and other partners across the world to make sure refugees can benefit from sport.
Since 2014, UNHCR has been building strategic partnerships with sport organizations to help change the lives of refugees and other displaced people. The establishment of the Olympic Refuge Foundation by UNHCR and the IOC in 2017 strengthened this partnership, bringing more dedicated sport initiatives to communities forced to flee. UNHCR also develops partnerships with the wider sporting world. Grassroots organizations, professional clubs, federations and associations, sport businesses, sponsors and individual sportspeople all have a role to play in increasing access to facilities, developing grounds and pitches, contributing equipment, organizing activities, training young refugees and using their voices to advocate for refugees. UNHCR launched its first global sport strategy, “More than a Game”, in 2022, which outlines the organization’s belief in the power of sport and engagement with the sector to benefit displaced and stateless people. UNHCR’s sport initiatives are implemented in refugee camps, settlements and urban settings around the world, in countries such as Bangladesh, Chad, Colombia, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Rwanda, the DRC and Uganda, to name a few.
