Refugee Olympic Team at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Refugee Olympic Team at the
2020 Summer Olympics
Refugee Olympic Team at the; 2020 Summer Olympics
	Individuals compete under the Olympic Flag
IOC code	EOR
in Tokyo, Japan; July 23, 2021 – August 8, 2021
Competitors	29 in 12 sports
Flag bearers (opening)	Yusra Mardini; Tachlowini Gabriyesos
Flag bearer (closing)	Hamoon Derafshipour
Medals	Gold 0 Silver 0 Bronze 0 Total 0
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	2016; 2020; 2024;

The IOC Refugee Olympic Team competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan as independent Olympic participants.

A total of 29 athletes including 19 men and 10 women from 11 different nations competed in 12 different sports including athletics, badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, judo, karate, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling. The team included refugees from Afghanistan, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela.

Background

The IOC code is the French acronym "EOR", which stands for Équipe olympique des réfugiés.^[1] This was the second appearance of a refugee team in the summer Olympics, following the 2016 Summer Olympics.^[2]

For the 2020 Games, the team included 29 athletes, up from 10 in the 2016 team. The team comprised athletes originating from 11 nations who currently reside and train across 13 host nations, supported by the IOC's Olympic Scholarships for Refugee Athletes program.^[3]

At the parade of nations, the IOC Team, according to the Japanese script traditional order and English pronunciation Ai Ō Shī of IOC in Japanese, was the second to parade after Greece who traditionally parade first.^[4]

Team selection

The team was selected on 8 June 2021.^[1]^[5]

Athlete	Country of origin	Host NOC	Sport	Event
Dorian Keletela	Congo	Portugal	Athletics	Men's 100 m
Rose Lokonyen	South Sudan	Kenya	Athletics	Women's 800 m
James Chiengjiek	South Sudan	Kenya	Athletics	Men's 800 m
Anjelina Lohalith	South Sudan	Kenya	Athletics	Women's 1500 m
Paulo Amotun Lokoro	South Sudan	Kenya	Athletics	Men's 1500 m
Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed	Sudan	Israel	Athletics	Men's 5000 m
Tachlowini Gabriyesos	Eritrea	Israel	Athletics	Men's marathon
Aram Mahmoud	Syria	Netherlands	Badminton	Men's singles
Wessam Salamana	Syria	Germany	Boxing	Men's light welterweight
Eldric Sella	Venezuela	Trinidad and Tobago	Boxing	Men's middleweight
Saeid Fazloula	Iran	Germany	Canoeing	Men's K-1 1000 m
Masomah Ali Zada	Afghanistan	France	Cycling	Women's time trial
Ahmad Wais	Syria	Switzerland	Cycling	Men's time trial
Sanda Aldass	Syria	Netherlands	Judo	Mixed team
Ahmad Alikaj	Syria	Germany	Judo	Mixed team
Muna Dahouk	Syria	Netherlands	Judo	Mixed team
Javad Mahjoub	Iran	Canada	Judo	Mixed team
Popole Misenga	DR Congo	Brazil	Judo	Mixed team
Nigara Shaheen	Afghanistan	Russia	Judo	Mixed team
Wael Shueb	Syria	Germany	Karate	Men's kata
Hamoon Derafshipour	Iran	Canada	Karate	Men's kumite
Luna Solomon	Eritrea	Switzerland	Shooting	Women's 10 m air rifle
Alaa Maso	Syria	Germany	Swimming	Men's 50 m freestyle
Yusra Mardini	Syria	Germany	Swimming	Women's 100 m butterfly
Dina Pouryounes	Iran	Netherlands	Taekwondo	Women's –49 kg
Kimia Alizadeh	Iran	Germany	Taekwondo	Women's –57 kg
Abdullah Sediqi	Afghanistan	Belgium	Taekwondo	Men's –68 kg
Cyrille Fagat Tchatchet II	Cameroon	United Kingdom	Weightlifting	Men's –96 kg
Aker Al-Obaidi	Iraq	Austria	Wrestling	Men's freestyle –67 kg

Competitors

In total, 29 refugee athletes competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.^[2]

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Athletics	5	2	7
Badminton	1	0	1
Boxing	2	0	2
Canoeing	1	0	1
Cycling	1	1	2
Judo	3	3	6
Karate	2	0	2
Shooting	0	1	1
Swimming	1	1	2
Taekwondo	1	2	3
Weightlifting	1	0	1
Wrestling	1	0	1
Total	19	10	29

Athletics

In total seven refugee athletes took part in the athletics events.^[2]

Track & road events
Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Dorian Keletela	100 m	10.33	1 Q	10.41	8	Did not advance
James Nyang Chiengjiek	800 m	2:02.04	8	—		Did not advance
Paulo Amotun Lokoro	1500 m	3:51.78	13	—		Did not advance
Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed	5000 m	13.42.98	13	—				Did not advance
Tachlowini Gabriyesos	Marathon	—						2:14:02	16

Women

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Rose Lokonyen	800 m	2:11.87 PB	8	Did not advance
Anjelina Lohalith	1500 m	4:31.65 PB	14	Did not advance

Badminton

In total one refugee athlete took part in the badminton events.^[2]

Aram Mahmoud competed in the men's singles event after he received an invitation from the IOC.^[6]

Athlete	Event	Group stage			Elimination	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Aram Mahmoud	Men's singles	Christie (INA) L (8–21, 14–21)	Loh (SGP) L (15–21, 12–21)	3	Did not advance

Boxing

In total two refugee athletes took part in the boxing events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Wessam Salamana	Men's lightweight	Oliveira (BRA) L 0–5	Did not advance
Eldric Sella	Men's middleweight	Cedeño (DOM) L RSC	Did not advance

Key

RSC = Referee stopped contest

Canoeing

In total one refugee athlete took part in the canoeing events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Heats		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Saeid Fazloula	Men's K-1 1000 m	3:52.631	4 QF	3:52.614	4	Did not advance

Cycling

In total two refugee athletes took part in the cycling events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Time	Rank
Ahmad Wais	Men's time trial	1:08:40.46	38
Masomah Ali Zada	Women's time trial	44:04.31	25

Judo

In total six refugee athletes took part in the judo events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Ahmad Alikaj	Men's −73 kg	Makhmadbekov (TJK) L 00–10	Did not advance
Popole Misenga	Men's −90 kg	Bye	Tóth (HUN) L 00–10	Did not advance
Javad Mahjoub	Men's +100 kg	—	Frey (GER) W 01–00	Krpálek (CZE) L 00–11	Did not advance
Sanda Aldass	Women's −57 kg	—	Perišić (SRB) L 00–10	Did not advance
Muna Dahouk	Women's −63 kg	—	del Toro (CUB) L 00–10	Did not advance
Nigara Shaheen	Women's −70 kg	—	Portela (BRA) L 00–10	Did not advance

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Sanda Aldass Ahmad Alikaj Muna Dahouk Javad Mahjoub Popole Misenga Nigara Shaheen	Team	Germany (GER) L 0–4	Did not advance

Karate

In total two refugee athletes took part in the karate events.^[2]

Kumite

Athlete	Event	Round robin					Semifinals	Final
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Hamoon Derafshipour	Men's −67 kg	Da Costa (FRA) L 0–4	Madera (VEN) W 9–3	Al-Masatfa (JOR) L 0–3	Kalniņš (LAT) W 5–3	3	Did not advance		5

Kata

Athlete	Event	Elimination round		Ranking round		Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Opposition Result	Rank
Wael Shueb	Men's kata	23.30	6	Did not advance

Shooting

In total one refugee athlete took part in the shooting events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Luna Solomon	Women's 10 m air rifle	605.9	50	Did not advance

Swimming

In total two refugee athletes took part in the swimming events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Alaa Maso	Men's 50 m freestyle	23.30	44	Did not advance
Yusra Mardini	Women's 100 m butterfly	1:06.78	33	Did not advance

Taekwondo

In total three refugee athletes took part in the taekwondo events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Qualification	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Abdullah Sediqi	Men's −68 kg	Bye	Zhao S (CHN) L 20–22	Did not advance
Dina Pouryounes	Women's −49 kg	Bye	Wu Jy (CHN) L 3–26 PTG	Did not advance
Kimia Alizadeh	Women's −57 kg	Kiani (IRI) W 18–9	Jones (GBR) W 16–12	Zhou Lj (CHN) W 9–8	Minina (ROC) L 3–10	Bye	İlgün (TUR) L 6–8	5

Weightlifting

In total one refugee athlete took part in the weightlifting events.^[2]

Athlete	Event	Snatch		Clean & jerk		Total	Rank
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Total	Rank
Cyrille Fagat Tchatchet II	Men's −96 kg	155	13	195	10	350	10

Wrestling

In total one refugee athlete took part in the wrestling events.^[2]

Key:

VT (ranking points: 5–0 or 0–5) – Victory by fall.
VB (ranking points: 5–0 or 0–5) – Victory by injury (VF for forfeit, VA for withdrawal or disqualification)
PP (ranking points: 3–1 or 1–3) – Decision by points – the loser with technical points.
PO (ranking points: 3–0 or 0–3) – Decision by points – the loser without technical points.
ST (ranking points: 4–0 or 0–4) – Great superiority – the loser without technical points and a margin of victory of at least 8 (Greco-Roman) or 10 (freestyle) points.
SP (ranking points: 4–1 or 1–4) – Technical superiority – the loser with technical points and a margin of victory of at least 8 (Greco-Roman) or 10 (freestyle) points.

Greco-Roman

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Repechage	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Aker Al-Obaidi	Men's −67 kg	Nasr (TUN) W 4–0 ^ST	Zoidze (GEO) L 0–4 ^ST	Did not advance			8

References

^ ^a ^b "29 refugee athletes to send a message of solidarity and hope to the world at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". Retrieved 8 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "Refugee Olympic Team (EOR)". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
^ "Why is there a Refugee Olympic Team?". International Rescue Committee. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
^ "U.S., France, Japan to march last in 2020 Parade of Nations". The Japan Times. 4 December 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
^ "IOC Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020" (PDF). Retrieved 8 June 2021.
^ "Aram Mahmoud Makes the Cut for Tokyo 2020". Badminton World Federation. 8 June 2021. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.

[IOC_announcement-1] "29 refugee athletes to send a message of solidarity and hope to the world at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". Retrieved 8 June 2021.

[ref_team-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ "Refugee Olympic Team (EOR)". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 July 2025.

[3] "Why is there a Refugee Olympic Team?". International Rescue Committee. Retrieved 24 July 2021.

[4] "U.S., France, Japan to march last in 2020 Parade of Nations". The Japan Times. 4 December 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.

[5] "IOC Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020" (PDF). Retrieved 8 June 2021.

[6] "Aram Mahmoud Makes the Cut for Tokyo 2020". Badminton World Federation. 8 June 2021. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.

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v t e National Olympic Committees at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan
Africa	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Americas	Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Bolivia Brazil British Virgin Islands Canada Cayman Islands Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela Virgin Islands
Asia	Afghanistan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China East Timor Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Syria Chinese Taipei Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
Europe	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine
Oceania	American Samoa Australia Cook Islands Fiji Guam Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Others	IOC Refugee Olympic Team ROC athletes
Withdrawn	North Korea