Tonight is the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2016, the 31st in history and the first in South America. Beyond old-fashioned nationalistic attitudes and in the spirit of taking part being what matters most, Doctors with Africa Cuamm is, of course, rooting for the people from countries we support in the field daily. We are especially excited to follow the Olympic adventures of Tanzania, one of the countries where we work, which made the news as the first country to confirm its athletes’ participation. We are first in line to watch the first Olympic Refugee Team, athletes of different nationalities who, as refugees, will take part in the Olympics under the flag of the International Olympic Committee. The team includes a marathon runner from Ethiopia and five middle-distance runners from South Sudan.
We will follow the competitions of these brave, determined men and women whom consider more than athletes as bearers of a message of hope for all the world’s refugees. We’ll be cheering for Yonas Kinde, who will run the 26-mile marathon after having fled from Ethiopia in 2013. Kinde, 36, has been living in Luxembourg under international protection since 2013. And we will be rooting for James Nyang Chiengjiek, born in 1988, originally from South Sudan, who has lived in the Kukuma camp in Kenya for many years. He never stopped training through it all, and he will run the 400 meters in Rio. He lives and trains with his fellow South Sudanese Yiech Pur Biel, who fled in 2005 and will be running the 800 meters.
And then Paulo Amotun Lokoro, who left South Sudan to take refuge in Kukuma, is ready to challenge many African middle-distance runners in the 1500 meters. And there are two other Sudanese women competing, Rose Nathike Lokonyen and Anjelina Nadai Lohalith. Lokonyen will run the 800, and Lohalith, the 1500 meters.
“With the Refugee Olympic Team, we are sending a message of solidarity for the people around the world. This is the worst refugee crisis in the history of humanity,” said Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee. Doctors with Africa is rooting for these athletes and all African athletes competing, because the Olympic Games are not just about competition, they are also about social and cultural integration and growth.
Sports mean heath, progress, and tapping potentials. Our hope is that all athletes will help promote this basic right.
