Refugee_Olympic_Team_at_the_Olympics
Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympics
Sporting event delegation
The Refugee Olympic Team is a group made up of independent Olympic participants who are refugees. In March 2016, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, as a symbol of hope for all refugees in the world in order to raise global awareness of the scale of the migrant crisis in Europe. In September 2017, the IOC established the Olympic Refugee Foundation to supporting refugees over the long term.[1][2]
The Olympic flag and the Olympic Hymn are used as team symbols. The participating athletes marched in the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics, with the team entering the stadium as the penultimate delegation, just before the host country. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, the team entered the stadium second only to Greece.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, the team used the IOC country code ROT, but at the 2020 Summer Olympics this was changed to EOR for French Équipe olympique des réfugiés. As of 2022, no refugee Olympic athletes had participated in the Winter Olympic Games.
The team was awarded the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Sport for giving athletes the opportunity in conflict zones and places where human rights are violated, preventing them from performing their sporting and personal activities.[3]