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Ten refugee athletes from Africa and the Middle East were selected on Friday to compete under the Olympic flag at the Rio de Janeiro Games in what the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said represents a ``symbol of hope'' for migrants and refugees around the world.  The members of the first ever Olympic refugee team include athletes from South Sudan, Syria, Congo and Ethiopia who will compete in track and field, swimming and judo.  

``We're convinced this refugee Olympic team can send a symbol of hope to all refugees in the world,'' IOC President Thomas Bach said at the close of a three-day IOC executive board meeting in Lausanne. ``It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society,'' Bach said.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi welcomed the move saying, “We are very inspired by the Refugee Olympic Athletes team.  Having had their sporting careers interrupted, these high-level refugee athletes will finally have the chance to pursue their dreams.”  “Their participation in the Olympics is a tribute to the courage and perseverance of all refugees in overcoming adversity and building a better future for themselves and their families. UNHCR stands with them and with all refugees,” he added.

The team, selected from an initial pool of 43 candidates, will be overseen by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe, the former women's marathon world record-holder. Five coaches and five other team officials were also named by the IOC.  Officially called the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT), the six men and four women will walk into the opening ceremony on Aug. 5 in Rio's Maracana stadium, just ahead of the huge team from Brazil, the host nation that marches last in the parade of athletes from more than 200 countries. 

The team includes Syrian swimmers Yusra Mardini, now based in Germany, and Rami Anis, living in Belgium; South Sudanese runners Yiech Pur Biel (800 meters), James Nyang Chiengjiek (400), Anjelina Nada Lohalith (1,500), Rose Nathike Lokonyen (800) and Paulo Amotun Lokoro (1,500); Congolese judo athletes Yolande Bukasa Mabika (70-kilogram category) and Popole Misenga (90 kgs), both living and training in Brazil; and Ethiopian marathon runner Yonas Kinde, now based in Luxembourg.

The South Sudanese runners had been staying at the sprawling Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya when they were selected as potential Olympic athletes. They were then taken to a training camp near Nairobi run by Loroupe. 

Mardini, the teenage Syrian swimmer, has generated heavy media attention. She and her sister, Sarah, were on a flimsy inflatable boat with other refugees making the perilous trip from Turkey to Greece when the dinghy started taking on water. While most of the refugees couldn't swim, the Mardini sisters jumped into the water and helped guide the boat to the Greek island of Lesbos.  The sisters eventually made it to Germany, where they began training at a swimming pool in Berlin near their refugee center.  (Source: AP/UN)

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