The Refugee Team (EOR), which entered for the second time with the five-wheeled flag at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which started today (23rd), consisted of 29 refugees from 11 countries.
This is the second time that the refugee team has participated in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, which was just before, and the number of participants has tripled compared to the Rio Olympics.
The refugee team will compete in 12 sports during the tournament.
According to Reuters, this is the first time for all 29 athletes, except for six who participated in the Rio Olympics.
The most notable is the Iranian female taekwondo athlete Kimiya Alizade Zenurin.
Alizadeh won a bronze medal in the 57 kg class in the Iranian national team at the previous Olympic Games in Rio.
It was the first medal for a female athlete in all sports in 68 years since Iran participated in the Olympic Games in 1948.
However, after getting married, it is known that Alizadeh was oppressed in Iran for being a woman. Eventually, she fled to Germany last year and was granted refugee status, after which she was put on the list of refugee teams announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and returned to the Olympic stage. I have stepped on
In particular, in the first match of the women's 57kg class (the round of 32) to be held the day after tomorrow, it is attracting attention as it will face Nahid Kiyanichande, the national representative of Iran.
The refugee team arrived in Qatar on the 11th and 12th, received vaccines and received training with support from the Qatari government.
(Photo = Yonhap News)