Updated:06/09/2021 01:42h
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The Olympic Games, in addition to being held every four years, arouse great enthusiasm in the public because history breaks down in them. The most powerful athletes on the planet compete for a few weeks with the past and, in that period of time, they seek to write their name and record for posterity. In this tidal wave of greatness, since 2016There is also a space reserved for athletes who have been competing against the elements all their lives.
The International Olympic Committee yesterday announced the 29 members of the team of refugee athletes who will compete as one more in the next Tokyo Games, which will be held from July 23 to August 8. This conglomerate, which already made its debut in the Rio de Janeiro four years ago (although on that occasion it was only made up of 10 athletes), is made up of a group of athletes who are considered non gratas in their land or simply not They are protected by the sports organization chart of their countries for being involved in problems of great magnitude.
A total of 11 countries are included in this group: Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, South Sudan, Sudan, Congo, Eritrea, Cameroon and Venezuela. All of them share the fact that they are countries ravaged by military and political conflicts, which has forced some of their athletes to take refuge under the Olympic flag on the date this summer. For example, Afghan taekwondo fighter Abdullah Sediqui fled his war-torn country four years ago due to threats from street gangs. “There were days when I walked for 12 hours straight,” explained the 24-year-old, who now lives in Wilrijk, a neighborhood south of the Belgian city of Antwerp. His march to Europe, despite the fact that he has given him a ticket to compete in the Japanese capital, also prevented him from saying goodbye to his mother, who died last year due to the coronavirus.
If Afghanistan is one of the areas most battered by war in recent years, the city of Aleppo, in Syria, also belongs to this sad group. The country, ravaged by an inexhaustible civil conflict, was home to Ahmad Wais |, another member of the Olympic refugee team. The now professional cyclist saw how at just 12 years old, his family began the refugee journey to Turkey to flee the war while he was left alone in his hometown. Two years later, the athlete decided to continue on his way: he traveled by car from Syria to Lebanon, crossed the Mediterranean to Turkey and later docked in Greece. Today he lives in Switzerland and Tokyo will be his next destination.
Boxer in Caracas and Tokyo
Despite the fact that the Middle East has been the scene of the most stark conflicts in recent years, the figure of the refugee is unfortunately global. Venezuela has been another of the hot spots on the globe and boxer Eldric Sella, as he likes to say, learned how to box in order to defend himself from his environment. Raised in the neighborhood January 23, west of Caracas, the fighter, who came to compete under the flag of his country, decided to emigrate to nearby Trinidad and Tobago with his girlfriend in 2014, when the financial and political crisis in Venezuela turned the country into a focus of conflict. Trained by the father of his partner and with a few successes behind him, he is ready for the big date. “He will have the opportunity to represent not only me, but millions of people around the world who were forced to leave their home and dreams behind,” the athlete wrote on his blog when his participation in Tokyo became official.
These are just three of the 29 stories that will make up the saga of refugees in the land of the rising sun. Covered by the UN and the IOC, which have financed and provided them with all the necessary material and facilities to develop their skills, this group will come second in the expected opening ceremony of the Games in the Japan National Stadium on July 23, only behind Greece, the original country of the event.
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