The Congolese Popole Misenga, the Afghan Nigara Shaheen and the Syrian Muna Dahouk got on an Olympic mat at the Tokyo Games to fight beyond judo and on behalf of the world’s 82 million refugees. When Misenga was nine years old, the war killed his mother and separated him from his brothers, he survived alone in the forest for seven days until he was rescued and transferred to a United Nations refugee camp in his country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There he discovered judo, a sport that he clung to and that led him to compete in the Rio World Cup in 2013, where he requested asylum and stayed. It is just one of the 29 life stories of some athletes who under the acronym EOR on their backs compete as the Olympic Refugee Team in Tokyo. For her part, the Afghan Shaheen only lived in her land for six months, until her family fled the war and took refuge in Pakistan. For this Olympic athlete, judo is more than a sport, it is the weapon that gave her the strength and confidence necessary to overcome multiple obstacles in the life of a refugee and a woman. In addition, the Syrian Dahouk arrived in the Netherlands in 2019, after the death of her father, a judo coach who started her in this sport from a young age together with her sister. She is one of the new Syrian refugees that make up the Olympic team, due to a conflict that has been bleeding her country since 2011. In the midst of the migration crisis, the IOC created this team of refugee athletes to give hope, and sporting opportunities, to the world’s displaced people. .
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