Lausanne, Switzerland, December 20, 2023: The Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) has announced the addition of eight new Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders, bringing the total number to 70.
The latest group of athletes joining the programme consists of five women and three men from four sports. They include four from Iran and one from Afghanistan.
The 70 athletes on the Olympic Solidarity-funded programme come from 12 different countries, are hosted by 23 different National Olympic Committees and compete in 14 different sports. The athletes who have joined the programme are:
Farida Abaroge (Athletics, from Ethiopia; host NOC: France)
Sibghatullah Arab (Judo, from Afghanistan; host NOC: Germany)
Atefeh Ahmadi (Alpine skiing, from Iran; host NOC: Germany)
Brhane Gebrebrhan (Athletics, from Eritrea; host NOC: UK)
Kavan Majidi (Judo, from Iran; host NOC: UK)
Perina Lokure Nakang (Athletics, from South Sudan; host NOC: Kenya)
Saman Soltani (Canoe, from Iran; host NOC: Austria)
Mahboubeh Barbari Zharfi (Judo, from Iran; host NOC: Germany)
To be eligible for the programme, athletes must be elite competitors in their respective sport and be refugees in their host country, recognised by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
In the spring of 2024, the Refugee Olympic Team will be selected from among the athletes within eligible sports from the current pool of 70 Scholarship-holders.
(IOC)