DPA
Berlin
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Thursday the list of 36 athletes who will be part of the refugee Olympic team at the 2024 Paris games this summer.
The team consists of athletes from 11 different countries of origin, among them 23 men and 13 women.
They will participate in 12 different sports: aquatics (swimming), athletics, badminton, boxing, breaking, canoe (slalom and sprint), cycling (road), judo, shooting, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman).
The refugee team represents “the world’s displaced population of over 100 million people,” according to the IOC.
“With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and excellence. This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world,” IOC president Thomas Bach said during a ceremony at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC refugee Olympic team is competing at the Games for the third time, after previous appearances at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. This year,its chef-de-mission will be Masomah Ali Zada, who competed as a member of the team at Tokyo 2020.
Ukrainian officials tell Olympic athletes to
avoid Russians
Ukrainian athletes has been given recommendations by their own Olympic committee over how to deal with Russian and Belarusians at the Paris Olympics in July and August.
Ukraine had threatened to boycott the Games after the International Olympic Committee decided Russians and Belarusians who do not openly support the invasion of Ukraine and have no army connections can compete as neutrals. Kiev has now reluctantly opted to take part.
According to the recommendations published on Thursday, any contact with “representatives of the aggressor states” inside and outside the Olympic venues is discouraged. This is intended to avoid possible “provocations.”
Ukrainian athletes should also not take part in discussions with Olympians from Russia and Belarus on social media, the Ukrainian Olympic Committee said.
For medal ceremonies, Ukrainians are urged to keep their distance from Russians or Belarusians and avoid sharing photos or videos.
Ukrainian athletes should also refrain from joint press conferences, interviews and live broadcasts, unless it directly relates to competitions.
In a further recommendation, Ukraine’s Olympic Committee wants its athletes to report violations of the neutrality requirement by Russians and Belarusians.
Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for more than two years. The authoritarian Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko is supporting Russia in the war and allowed Russian soldiers to invade neighbouring Ukraine from Belarus.
The Summer Olympics are scheduled to be held in the French capital from July 26 to August 11.
