The team was created for the 2016 Rio Olympics as a symbol of hope and to draw attention to the plight of refugees around the world.
In Paris, refugee athletes will be participating at a time of record global migration and where hundreds of millions of people – many displaced from their homes – are forced to reinvent themselves just like these athletes.
Refugee athletes will take part in 12 sports, but for many, the road to Paris is already a triumph.
FERNANDO DAYÁN JORGE, CANOEING (CUBA)
Fernando Dayán Jorge spent his childhood walking past fishing boats and colonial houses in the bay near his home in Cienfuegos, Cuba.
Since he started training with his father at the age of 11, he says he feels as if he has lived hundreds of lives.
The 25-year-old athlete participated twice with the Cuban Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Olympic champion. Deserter from the Cuban team. Migrant. Maintenance worker. Refugee.
Now he continues to speed forward in his red and white canoe, this time passing by suburbs and canals in Cape Coral, Florida.
“After having ruled out the 2024 Paris Olympics, it is a great opportunity,” she acknowledged. “There are many Cubans who come to this country and lose their dreams of competing once here, simply because they do not know how to return to this place.”
Jorge was at the top of his game after winning the 1,000-meter canoe sprint when he made a huge decision in March 2021. During a training session in Mexico, Jorge defected, joining the growing number of Cuban athletes leaving their country amid a wave of migration.
Many hope to make more money than on the communist island. Others, like Jorge, say they decided to leave because of the way their government treats its athletes and citizens.
MANIZHA TALASH, BREAKDANCE (AFGHANISTAN)
Manizha Talash is not afraid of the Taliban
“I’m here because I want to achieve my dream, not because I’m afraid,” she said from Spain, where she was granted asylum.
On the outskirts of Madrid, Talash, 21, is training hard for the Games, which will include breakdancing as an official sport for the first time.
A few months ago I was working in a beauty salon in the town of Huesca. Talash was one of the hundreds of Afghans who arrived in Spain on military planes after the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021.
Talash first encountered breakdancing at the age of 17 while watching videos on social media of a man spinning around on his head and thought — this must be fake, it must be AI. But the footage was real and he quickly became obsessed with the sport.
“I wanted to practice it, I wanted to learn it,” he said.
She found a club in Kabul and knocked on the door. “There were 55 guys and the only girl was me,” she said. “I thought to myself, why can’t girls do this?”
Breakdancing somehow freed her from the problems women faced in Afghanistan. She trained at home behind closed doors until the Taliban returned to power.
MOHAMMAD AMIN ALSALAMI, ATHLETICS (SYRIA)
When Mohammad Amin Alsalami arrived in Berlin in October 2015, he was cold, lonely and homesick.
The Syrian refugee had left his war-torn hometown of Aleppo behind and made his way to Turkey and then to Germany. Like millions of migrants, he was looking for a place where he could build a future away from bombs and violence.
Nearly a decade later, 29-year-old Alsalami has been granted asylum, learned German and has made new friends. And he is fulfilling his dream of becoming a world-class athlete.
A month ago he received the green light to participate in the Paris Games.
“That moment was incredible,” she admitted. “I get to go to the Olympics. I cried a lot, it was incredible.”
Alsalami discovered his passion for athletics during a physical test at his school at the age of 15. A teacher noticed his talent for long jumping and encouraged him to participate in local and national competitions. But when the Civil War began, he was no longer able to train. His family – as the youngest of nine children – was displaced in Syria and ended up fleeing to Turkey. Alsalami decided to continue his journey to Europe.
He says his passion for athletics helped him overcome the hardships in his new country.
IMAN MAHDAVI, LUCHA (IRAN)
Iman Mahdavi smiles as she prepares an Iranian dish she cooked in her apartment in Milan.
“If my mother could see me now,” he said, laughing, “she wouldn’t believe it.”
Mahdavi has not seen his mother since October 2020 when the Iranian fighter left his country out of fear for his life.
Wearing only the clothes she was wearing, Mahdavi made the harrowing journey on foot from Iran to Turkey and then flew to Italy where she sought asylum.
“I didn’t really know where I was flying to,” said Mahdavi, 29. “Luckily it was Italy.”
Once he was granted asylum, one of his main goals was to continue fighting. His father, who was also a fighter, instilled the passion in him. Mahdavi was a seven-time youth champion and has 50 medals.
Source: AP
