The refugee team for the Paris Olympics consists of 36 athletes from 11 countries in 12 sports, including five from Great Britain. The Olympic Games will take place from Friday, July 26th to Sunday, August 11th
Last updated: 5/2/24 8:04 p.m
Cindy Ngamba will perform for the Refugee Olympic Team in Paris
UK-based boxer Cindy Ngamba has the chance to become the first athlete to win a medal for the refugee Olympic team after her selection was confirmed by the International Olympic Committee.
Five UK-based athletes have been named to the 36-strong refugee Olympic team for the Paris Summer Games, which will be overseen by Chef de Mission Masomah Ali Zada - who has picked the three-time English champion as the one to watch .
Last month, Ngamba became the first refugee boxer to independently secure an Olympic quota spot by defeating Kazakhstan’s Valentina Khalzova in the women’s 75kg quarterfinals at the Road to Paris First World Qualification Tournament.
Ali Zada, an Afghan cyclist who was herself part of the last refugee Olympic team in Tokyo, said: “We already have a girl in boxing, Cindy, who qualified on her own and I am sure she will be able to “To take one home with you.” Medal.
“We hope she can win an Olympic medal for the first time in the history of the Refugee Olympic Team.”
Ngamba was born in Cameroon and moved to the UK at the age of 11. She has spoken openly about the challenges she has since faced in obtaining citizenship, including the time she was sent to a detention center because of paperwork issues that she feared would lead to deportation.
Ngamba will be one of the Refugee Olympic Team’s medal contenders
Now 25, she has been able to train alongside top British boxers such as Natasha Jonas and Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Lauren Price.
She recently told the Olympic Channel that the opportunity, if chosen, would be “stunning.” It will be the most beautiful thing ever. The most amazing thing that will ever happen to me and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.
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Lauren Price is determined to bring back the glory days of Welsh boxing when she challenges Jessica McCaskill for her WBA and WBC welterweight titles at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff on May 11
Although the refugee Olympic team will still go to the opening ceremony under the Olympic flag, this year it will have its own emblem and equipment.
Which other UK-based athletes will be taking part?
Swimmer Matin Balsini earned a place on Iran’s national team at 15, but left the country in 2022 and settled in Guildford, where – after a seven-month break due to the asylum process – he trained and worked as a lifeguard on weekends.
His compatriot Dorsa Yavarivafa had already won badminton tournaments in her native Tehran, but had to flee Iran with her mother as a 15-year-old for safety reasons and had to train in her apartment during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Weightlifter Ramiro Mora, the British record holder at 89kg and 96kg, lost both his parents at a young age and made the Cuban national team as a teenager before heading to Britain, where he worked for a circus in Blackpool before making his way there worked at Bristol, where he now trains.
Mora will be accompanied by taekwondo athlete Farzad Mansouri, who is traveling to his second Olympic Games but his first as a refugee athlete.
The 22-year-old was Afghanistan’s opening ceremony flag bearer – one of just five to represent his birth country at the Tokyo Olympics – but fled shortly after the Games and now trains alongside the Great Britain squad.
Zada added: “I hope [we will] Change your mind about refugees because the Refugee Olympic Team will show a different picture of refugees. You have a right to have a dream.
What is the Refugee Olympic Team?
The refugee team was created by the IOC for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to allow athletes to continue competing even if they are forced to leave their home countries.
This is the third edition of the team and the largest to date, consisting of 23 men and 13 women from 11 countries, all of whom have refugee status in their host countries, and who will compete in 12 sports in France.
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Sky Sports News reporter Geraint Hughes travels to Paris to present the security plans of the French government and the Olympic Organization as they prepare to host the 2024 Olympic Games in the capital.
In Rio there were 10 athletes, in Tokyo there were 29 in 12 sports. The refugee team will consist of athletes competing in Paris in the disciplines of athletics, badminton, boxing, braking, canoeing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.
How to watch the Olympics on Sky Sports?
The 2024 Paris Olympics will take place from Friday, July 26th to Sunday, August 11th Sky sports news As part of our comprehensive digital coverage, we’re bringing you the latest news and analysis from Paris this summer.
You can follow all the key moments from the Olympics in our daily live blogs and reports, as well as coverage via Sky sports news.
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