The European Olympic Committees (EOC) has announced that an EOC Refugee Team will compete at the European Games Kraków-Małopolska 2023.

The EOC is the first continental association to have a Refugee Team at its multisport events.

The third edition of the Games will be held between 21 June and 2 July and the EOC has today confirmed that three taekwondo athletes and two boxers representing the newly-formed EOC Refugee Team will join more than 7,000 other athletes in Poland this summer.

The initiative was carried out in collaboration with the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF). The ORF manages the, Olympic Solidarity-funded, Refugee Athlete Support programme and will manage the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.

EOC President Spyros Capralos highlighted the importance of having the EOC Refugee Team at the European Games, as well as emphasising the role that sport can continue to play in driving peace in communities.

Capralos: “I am proud to announce today the creation of a European Olympic Committees Refugee Team, which will compete in this summer’s European Games in Kraków-Małopolska.

“Ongoing conflicts, persecution and climate change continue to force millions of people from their homes. When they settle in new countries, sport is more than just a tool for integration. It can help to escape trauma, it can give athletes a focus and sense of purpose, help them rebuild their lives, create social networks and much more.

“The five athletes set to compete in Poland are proof of that and I know they will compete with pride. I wish them the best of luck.”

All of the athletes competing as part of the EOC Refugee Team are Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders as part of the ORF’s Refugee Athlete Support programme, and are aiming to be part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.

Taekwondo athletes Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin and Dina Pouryounes Langeroudi who were also  Members of the Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020 will compete along with Kasra Mehdipournejad. All three athletes are originally from Iran, with Kasra and Kimia having both settled in Germany and Dina now residing in the Netherlands. In taekwondo, Kasra will compete in the men’s under 80kg category, Kimia in the women’s under 62kg and Dina in the women’s under 46kg.

Boxers will be Farid Walizadeh in the men’s under 57kg category, who is now living in Portugal after being born in Afghanistan, and Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba in the women’s under 66kg section. She now lives in Great Britain, having been being born in Cameroon.

About the European Games

The third edition of the European Games will take place between 21 June and 2 July 2023. There will be 26 sports played during the games with 18 Olympic and eight non-Olympic sports scheduled and more than 7,000 athletes expected to take part. Kraków will be the main hub of the Games with 11 different towns and cities hosting sports in a variety of different venues.

About the Olympic Refuge Foundation

At the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in October 2015, confronted with the global refugee crisis that has seen millions of people in the world displaced, IOC President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Team – the first of its kind – to take part in the Olympic Games Rio 2016. The IOC Refugee Olympic Team has since competed at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and there are currently more than 50 Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders aiming to be selected for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024. In September 2017, the IOC established the Olympic Refugee Foundation which manages the IOC Refugee Olympic Team but also leverages sport for the protection, inclusion and empowerment of young people affected by displacement across the globe. The Olympic Refuge Foundation has an ambitious goal that by 2024, 1 million young people affected by displacement will access safe sport.

Source: EOC