Feature: The Olympic Refugee Team
TOKYO - JAPAN - 22 July 2021: Members of the Olympic Refugee Team at the Olympic Village in Tokyo ahead of TOKYO 2020, the XXXII IOC Olympic Games. Filippo Grandi. Photograph by Greg Martin/IOC
Written by Jan Alex
The Olympics have long been more than an intense, global sporting event. Every four years, the Olympics become a time of amplified nationalism, now more than ever. The 2020/2021 Olympics passed by despite the threat of COVID-19 and citizens rallied to support their athletes. Yet, not every athlete was there to honor their country’s survival through the global pandemic. The little known team that marches underneath the flag of the Olympics instead of the country they hail from are the International Olympic Committee’s Refugee Team (IOC). Their presence at the Olympic Games is a reminder of the world’s refugee crisis as well as the valuable contributions refugees and migrants make despite the negative stereotypes that haunt them.
TOKYO - JAPAN - 22 July 2021: Members of the Olympic Refugee Team at the Olympic Village in Tokyo ahead of TOKYO 2020, the XXXII IOC Olympic Games. Filippo Grandi. Photograph by Greg Martin/IOC
The IOC was first organized in 2016 for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to “send a powerful message of solidarity and hope.” With only ten members at its conception, the IOC now includes 29 athletes who compete across twelve different sports. These athletes are supported by the IOC’s Refugee Emergency Fund, a scholarship program designed to help international aid agencies integrate refugees into competitive athletics. The fund works to support a refugee’s training and housing with a host country. They fly the Olympic flag and walk to no national anthem. Their teammates may not even speak the same language as them. Instead of their own country, they possess the unique opportunity to represent a different kind of group: one with a population of 26 million refugees and more than 80 million displaced individuals.
TOKYO - JAPAN - 22 July 2021: Members of the Olympic Refugee Team at the Olympic Village in Tokyo ahead of TOKYO 2020, the XXXII IOC Olympic Games. Copyright IOC/Greg Martin
A refugee is defined as a person forced to leave their home or country of origin out of fear of persecution or violence. While this definition remains accurate in every objective sense, it makes no mention of a refugee’s courage or resilience. Yusra Mardini is a 23 year-old Syrian swimmer from the original IOC team in 2016 who competed in the Women’s 100-meter Butterfly race. While Mardini swam for the IOC on July 24, she has found herself in the water with more at stake than a medal before. When she was just sixteen years old, Mardini and her family fled war-torn Syria on an inflatable raft to Greece. During her perilous journey through the Aegean Sea, the raft capsized. Mardini, along with her sister and two other passengers, jumped into the water and swam for three and a half hours to pull the craft safely ashore, saving the lives of twenty refugees like herself. After settling in Germany, she began to swim competitively and earned the notice of an IOC scholarship. The sport that saved her life and countless others catapulted her to the world stage. In interviews, Mardini has told her story in order to inspire other refugees and remind others that they are more than their dictionary definition tells them they are.
TOKYO - JAPAN - 22 July 2021: Members of the Olympic Refugee Team at the Olympic Village in Tokyo ahead of TOKYO 2020, the XXXII IOC Olympic Games. Filippo Grandi. Copyright IOC/Greg Martin
The presence of the IOC at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games serves as an important reminder that refugees are more than just displaced people. They are human beings of incredible resilience, bravery and, of course, immense talent. Whether the IOC earns any medals is beside the point. Their mere presence, inclusion and their stories are worth more than any gold medal could be.
