International Olympic Committee

19 December 2023 – The Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) has announced the addition of eight new Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders, bringing the total number to 70. The latest cohort of athletes joining the programme consists of five women and three men from four sports.

The 70 athletes on the programme funded by Olympic Solidarity, come from 12 different countries, are hosted by 23 different National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and compete in 14 different sports. The athletes who have joined the programme are:

• Farida Abaroge (Athletics, from Ethiopia; host NOC: France)
• Sibghatullah Arab (Judo, from Afghanistan; host NOC: Germany)
• Atefeh Ahmadi (Alpine skiing, from Iran; host NOC: Germany)
• Brhane Gebrebrhan (Athletics, from Eritrea; host NOC: UK)
• Kavan Majidi (Judo, from Iran; host NOC: UK)
• Perina Lokure Nakang (Athletics, from South Sudan; host NOC: Kenya)
• Saman Soltani (Canoe, from Iran; host NOC: Austria)
• Mahboubeh Barbari Zharfi (Judo, from Iran; host NOC: Germany)

To be eligible for the programme, athletes must be elite competitors in their respective sport and be refugees in their host country, recognised by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. In the spring of 2024, the Refugee Olympic Team will be selected from among the athletes within eligible sports from the current pool of 70 Scholarship-holders.

Beyond the Games: Supporting displaced people at all levels

The Refugee Olympic Team, together with the Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders, represent the challenges and resilience of more than 110 million refugees worldwide.

The Refugee Athlete Support programme is funded by the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity programme and managed by the ORF, which acts in lieu of a traditional NOC for refugee athletes. The ORF ensures that where NOCs are hosting refugee athletes, they can support them to ensure access to high-level training facilities and national and international competition.

Beyond managing the Refugee Athlete Support Programme, the ORF has an ambitious goal for one million young people affected by displacement to access safe sport by the end of 2024. Through programmes, the Foundation provides access to safe sport for displaced people, while through partnerships the ORF is building a movement which guarantees that young people affected by displacement have access to safe sport, and ensures that safe sport is widely adopted as a tool to support those affected by displacement.