A total of 29 athletes from 13 host National Olympic Committees have been selected to compete at the Tokyo Games this summer on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Refugee Olympic Team. According to Olympics.com, the IOC’s Executive Board narrowed down these contenders from a group of more than 50 people who held scholarships. They will compete under the Olympic flag.
The IOC Refugee Olympic Team made its debut at the last Summer Games in Rio with 10 members. “The reasons we created this team still exist,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “We have more forcibly displaced people in the world right now, and therefore it went without saying that we wanted to create an IOC Refugee Olympic Team for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.” There are over 80 million displaced people around the world, the UN Refugee Agency reports.
Keep reading to check out the 10 women athletes competing across sports who are part of this team. Plus, follow the Refugee Olympic Team on Instagram and Twitter. A Refugee Paralympic Team for Tokyo will reportedly be announced in the coming weeks.
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer on NBC.