Iran Dominates Refugee Olympic Team with 14 Athletes

Iran Wire-July 24th2024

PAYAM YOUNESIPOUR

As the flags of 206 nations wave proudly at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris on July 26, a unique group will march under a different banner.

The Refugee Olympic Team, competing under the flag of the International Olympic Committee, marks its third appearance at the Games with a record 37 athletes.

This team’s journey began in 2016 at the Rio Olympics with just 10 members.

It grew to 29 at the 2020 Tokyo Games, and now, in Paris, it has expanded further.

The team represents hope and resilience for millions of displaced people worldwide. However, its composition also highlights trends in global displacement.

Most notably, Iranian athletes form the largest contingent of this refugee team.

Of the 37 athletes representing 11 different countries of origin, 14 are from Iran.

This statistic is striking, especially considering that Iran is not currently experiencing civil war or major international conflict – factors that typically drive refugee crises.

The Iranian presence in the refugee team doesn’t tell the whole story.

Several Iranian athletes are competing under different flags, like Kimia Alizadeh, who now represents Bulgaria.

Additionally, prominent Iranian chess players such as Alireza Firouzja, Borna Derakhshani, Dorsa Derakhshani, Saeedeh Bayat, Mitra Hejazipour, and Ghazal Hakimifard have also left their homeland, though they cannot participate in the Olympics due to their sport’s non-Olympic status.

In what fields will the refugee athletes compete?

In March 2016, amid the global waves of asylum seekers heading to Europe and America, Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced the formation of a team called the “Refugee Olympic Team.”

Bach recognized that the process of seeking asylum and gaining citizenship in European and American countries is arduous.

Consequently, many athletes who become refugees are unable to compete in the Olympics because they lack official citizenship in their new countries.

Thomas Bach expressed that by creating this temporary team, he aimed to encourage global leaders to make it easier for refugees to gain citizenship in their new countries.

The world can now evaluate whether politicians have heeded Bach’s call.

Have they made it easier for refugees to gain citizenship, or have they made the process more difficult for these athletes?

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