LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday unveiled its largest refugee Olympic team to date for the Paris 2024 Games, with 36 athletes from 11 different countries.
The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris, the third time such a team has formed for the Summer Olympics.
“With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and excellence,” IOC President Thomas Bach said during the team’s announcement.
“This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world.”
For the first time, the team will compete under its own emblem.
The IOC unveiled its first refugee team for the Rio 2016 Olympics with 10 athletes to raise awareness of the issue as hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere escaping conflict and poverty.
The team that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was already almost three times as big as the inaugural team at the Rio Games, with a total of 29 athletes competing in 12 sports.
The Paris Olympics refugee team announcement comes shortly after Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who ran as a refugee athlete in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
Largest ever refugee team to compete at Paris Olympics-IOC
https://arab.news/zsqjt
Largest ever refugee team to compete at Paris Olympics-IOC
- The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris
- IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world“
Salah sets up goal on return to Liverpool action
- Salah came off the substitutes’ bench to huge cheers in the 26th minute
- Liverpool doubled their lead in the 60th minute when Ekitike scored his second, nodding home Salah’s corner
LIVERPOOL: Mohamed Salah set up a goal in Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Brighton on Saturday as he returned to action after an explosive outburst cast doubt over his future at the Premier League champions.
The Egypt forward, the subject of intense scrutiny in the build-up to the game at Anfield, came off the substitutes’ bench to huge cheers in the 26th minute, replacing injured defender Joe Gomez.
The home team, whose title defense has collapsed after a shocking run of results, were leading 1-0 at the time, with France forward Hugo Ekitike on the scoresheet after just 46 seconds.
Brighton squandered a number of opportunities to level and Ekitike scored again with half an hour to go to give Liverpool breathing space.
Salah accused Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus” after he was left on the bench for last week’s 3-3 draw at Leeds — the third match in a row that he had been named among the replacements.
He also said that he had no relationship with manager Arne Slot.
Salah was omitted from the midweek Champions League trip to Inter Milan, which Liverpool won 1-0, posting a picture on social media of himself alone in the gym.
Slot said at Friday’s pre-match press conference that he would speak to the forward later in the day, adding: “I have no reasons (in) not wanting him to stay.”
There was feverish speculation in the build-up to Saturday’s match about what role Salah would play, with the winger named on the bench.
Liverpool, who had won just two of 10 Premier League matches before the Brighton game, made a lightning start, taking the lead in the first minute when Joe Gomez set up Ekitike, who thumped the ball past Bart Verbruggen.
Salah entered the fray about 20 minutes before half-time when Gomez was withdrawn.
Brighton’s Diego Gomez squandered a good chance to level early in the second half, striking the ball against the outside of a post, and Brajan Gruda also went close as the home crowd chanted Salah’s name.
Liverpool doubled their lead in the 60th minute when Ekitike scored his second, nodding home Salah’s corner.
Salah himself went close in stoppage time after he was set up by Federico Chiesa but he blazed over.
The win lifts Slot’s men to sixth in the table ahead of the later kick-offs on Saturday, easing the pressure on the beleaguered manager.
- Salah departure -
Salah, who signed a new two-year contract at Liverpool in April, is about to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations.
The length of his absence depends on how far Egypt go in the competition in Morocco, with the final taking place on January 18.
The forward, who has been linked with a move to the lucrative Saudi Pro League, had invited his family to the Brighton game as speculation swirled over his future.
“I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to the Africa Cup,” he told reporters last week. “I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there.”
Salah, third in Liverpool’s all-time scoring charts with 250 goals, has won two Premier League titles and one Champions League crown during his spell on Merseyside.
He scored 29 Premier League goals last season as Liverpool romped to a 20th English league title, but has managed just four league goals this season.
