History-making Refugee Paralympic Team shows the power of sport to inspire
History-making Refugee Paralympic Team shows the power of sport to inspire
The Closing Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at the Stade de France.
Eight athletes and one guide runner participated in six of the 22 sports at Paris 2024, winning historic bronze medals in the women’s Para taekwondo K44-47kg category and in Para athletics in the men’s T11 400m. While these were the first-ever medals for the Refugee Paralympic Team (RPT), there were many other inspirational performances.
After meeting the athletes in Paris this week, Ruven Menikdiwela, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, praised their determination. “I told them, medals or not, they are all champions, and their courage and resilience is an example to all of us,” she said.
Based in six countries, the team members were representing more than 120 million people forcibly displaced worldwide because of conflict, violence and human rights violations. This includes at least 18 million people with disabilities, who face higher risks of violence, discrimination, exploitation and abuse, as well as barriers in accessing critical support, education, sporting and livelihood opportunities.
The Refugee Paralympic Team – the largest to date – competed under the flag of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which was carried at the Opening Ceremony by T11 400m bronze medallist Guillaume Junior Atangana. At Sunday’s Closing Ceremony at the Stade de France, the flag was borne by Para taekwondo bronze medallist Zakia Khudadadi.
Refugee Paralympic Team flagbearer Zakia Khudadadi carries the IPC flag during the Closing Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
“For me, it is an honour and I am very happy, because today I am a positive symbol and a symbol of strength for all the refugees in the world,” said Khudadadi ahead of the ceremony.
Khudadadi carried the flag across the neon-lit heart of the national stadium as a marching band played and athletes from the competing nations danced around the track. Afterwards, she joined other members of the RPT revelling in the carnival atmosphere, with live performances and DJ sets. Even the rain could do nothing to dampen the celebrations, with the athletes donning plastic ponchos over their tracksuits and continuing the party.
During his speech at the Closing Ceremony, IPC President Andrew Parsons paid tribute to the RPT’s achievements, saying: “To the Refugee Paralympic Team – eight athletes; two medal wins – you can forever call the Paralympic movement your home.”
The team’s historic success followed that of the Refugee Olympic Team, which earlier this summer also won its first-ever medal with a bronze for Cindy Ngamba in the women’s 75kg boxing.
Alongside the two podium finishes, which were cheered by large crowds of enthusiastic supporters, they competed in Para athletics in the shot put and 100m; Para powerlifting; Para table tennis; men’s Para taekwondo; Para triathlon; and Wheelchair fencing.
Whatever their results, all the refugee athletes performed with determination and courage, showing that, with the right support, displaced people can overcome incredible obstacles and perform at the highest levels.
Para athletes showcase their talents
Already a European Para taekwondo champion in 2023, Khudadadi’s bronze medal cemented her reputation as an athlete to be reckoned with.
Atangana – known as Junior – ran a personal best with every race alongside his guide runner Donard Ndim Nyamjua on his way to bronze in the men’s T11 400m. He followed that with another personal best in his qualifying heat of the men’s T11 100m, which saw him through to the semi-final.
Earlier in the Games, Hadi Hassanzada lost out in a tough men’s Para taekwondo opening bout, and Sayed Amir Hossein Hosseini Pour was defeated in a close Para table tennis match.
Competing in the Para triathlon for the first time, former Para swimmer Ibrahim Al Hussein finished in sixth place, achieving his ambition for his debut in the sport.
Wheelchair fencer Amelio Castro Grueso competed in both the men’s Sabre Category B and the men’s Épée Category B, making it to the second repechage round of his first competition and narrowly losing a hard-fought competition to the world’s number one fencer in his second competition of the Games.
In the men’s 80kg Para powerlifting, Hadi Darvish lifted 198kg, and on the final day of the team’s competition, Salman Abbariki threw 8.92m in the men’s F34 shotput.
There was also success for a team alumnus: former RPT member from Tokyo 2020 Abbas Karimi, who now competes for the United States, won two silver medals in the Para swimming mixed 4x50m Freestyle and Medley Relay events.
Paris marked the third time there have been athletes competing as part of a refugee team at the Paralympics. There were two athletes competing at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, six at the Tokyo 2020 Games and eight athletes and a guide runner at Paris 2024.
UNHCR partnered with the IPC, the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Refuge Foundation to support refugees at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
