Anjelina Nadai and Dominic Lokolong are among eight athletes who will benefit from the Refugee Olympic Program by the National Olympic Committee to be run from January 2023 in the run up to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Nadai and Lokolong are 1500m specialists. Others selected include Kun Waar (400m), Rose Ihisa (400m), Emmanuel Ntagunga (5,000m), John Lokibe (800m), Josephine Tein (800m) and Gasho Nsazumukiza (Tae-Kwon-Do).
This comes after a one-week visit to Kenya by Olympic Solidarity Deputy Director Pamela Vipond in the first week of December where trials were held to select a team to benefit from the sponsorship.
Speaking during the unveiling meeting, NOC-K president Paul Tergat lauded the efforts by Tegla Loroupe towards the refugee movement. Tergat was in the company of NOC-K secretary general Francis Mutuku and Executive Member Barnaba Korir.
“The first batch of the athletes competed during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Loroupe was the Chef de Mission of the Team. We are very proud of the work and achievements that Loroupe, through her Foundation, has done in giving opportunities to these athletes,” Tergat said.
Tergat also congratulated the athletes and urged them to make the best out of the opportunity to qualify and participate in the Games.
The program was started in 2015, following the global refugee crisis to aid potential elite athletes affected. Its first participation at the 2016 Rio Olympics saw 10 athletes benefit. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics had 52 athletes in the program.
The program is funded through the Olympic Solidarity and thus NOC-K will collaborate with the concerned institutions for the continuity of the program.
NOC-K will be responsible for hosting NOC for all refugee athletes in the country, technical and financial reporting & monitoring the athletes, reporting to Olympic Solidarity, integrating the refugee athletes in national programs and giving access to competitions both locally and internationally.
The next step will include scholarships for athletes to be placed in camps beginning January 2023 while non-scholarship athletes will be placed in education programs – organized by UNHCR.
Meanwhile, the Olympic Solidarity will support the program through its Refugee Athlete Support Program. The support includes a fixed monthly grant of ksh. 184,800 and establishing proper conditions for participation and defining the identification and selection process for a team.
