The Paralympic Games began with Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German-Jewish neurologist who fled the Nazis and received asylum in Great Britain. There, he opened a spinal injuries center at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital. The first Games–called the Stoke Mandeville Games–were organized by Dr. Guttmann in 1948 for servicemen and women injured during World War II.
The Stoke Mandeville Games later became the Paralympic Games, which first took place in Rome, in 1960. The event featured 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then they have taken place every four years.
The first Refugee Team competed in the Paralympics in Rio in 2016. Many people had a hand in creating the team, but one crucial contributor was Shahrad Nasajpour, a Para athlete in discus from Iran. Mr. Nasajpour fled his country and arrived in the United States in 2015. He managed to expedite his asylum case after explaining to a supervisor that he needed status to compete in the Paralympics. “Be resilient in difficult times,” he advises. “You will hear a lot of No’s on a regular basis, but don’t take that No as an answer.” With Mr. Nasajpour’s words in mind, let’s take a look at some of this year’s Paralympic athletes, each the embodiment of resilience and perseverance.
There are more than 117 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. If refugees and internally displaced people formed their own country, it would be the 12th largest nation in the world.
To raise awareness about this crisis, the International Olympic Committee created the Refugee Olympic Team, which first competed in Brazil in 2016. This year, the team is made up of 37 athletes, hosted by 15 National Olympic Committees, competing in 12 sports. One goal of the team–aside from winning medals–is to demonstrate to the world that refugees enrich the societies where they settle. Here, we’ll meet a few members of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. (more…)
In the world today, there are about 82.4 million people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. If these people could form their own country, it would be the 20th most populous nation on Earth (about the same size as Germany). Confronted with this problem, the International Olympic Committee created a Refugee Team, which first competed in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The current Games is the second summer Olympics for the Refugee Team, which consists of 29 athletes, representing 11 countries.
Each of these athletes has overcome tremendous odds. Many have suffered severe trauma. Despite these obstacles, they have excelled in their respective sports and have reached the Olympics. You can learn more about all 29 of these amazing athletes at the IOC website, and below, I’ve selected a few of their biographies to give you a sense of the team. (more…)
This August, 10 athletes will compete in the Olympic games not as representatives of their countries of citizenship, but as refugees. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, there will be a “Refugee Team,” composed of individuals from four countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Syria. The athletes will participate in a variety of sports, including swimming, track and field, and judo.
Refugee athletes are expected to do well in such sports as “Completing Endless Forms” (pictured) and “Waiting Forever In Line.”
Here are the stories of a few of these inspiring Olympians:
James Nyang Chiengjiek (age: 28; country of origin: South Sudan; sport: 400 meters) – James is from Bentiu, South Sudan. His father was a soldier who died in 1999 during the war. When he was a young boy he took care of cattle. He escaped from South Sudan when the war broke out, as he risked conscription into the army to participate in the war as a child soldier. James arrived in Kenya in 2002 and stayed in a UNHCR-supported refugee camp. He attended school and started running there. He was selected to train at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation in 2013, and has been there ever since (four others on the Refugee Team also train at the TLPF).
Yusra Mardini (age: 18; country of origin: Syria; sport: 100 meter freestyle) – Prior to the war in Syria, Yusra was a competitive swimmer who represented her country in international competitions. As the war intensified, Yusra and her sister left Damascus in early August 2015 and reached Berlin in September 2015. To get there, they had to cross the Aegean in a small boat. When the engine died, Yusra and a few others—the only swimmers on board—jumped into the water and pushed the boat for 3½ hours to shore. Since she reached Germany, Yusra has been training at the club Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 e.V. which is a partner of the Elite Schools of Sport in Berlin.
Yolande Bukasa Mabika (age: 28; country of origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo; sport: Judo) – Yolande is originally from Bukavu, the area worst affected by the DRC civil war from 1998 to 2003. During the war, she was separated from her parents and taken to a children’s home. There, she took up Judo, which the government encouraged as a way to give structure to the lives or orphans. As a professional Judoka, she represented the Democratic Republic of the Congo in international competitions. After years of difficult training conditions, she decided to seek asylum in Brazil during the World Judo Championships in Rio in 2013. She currently trains at the Instituto Reação in Rio de Janeiro.
Popole Misenga (age 24; country of origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo; sport: Judo) – Like his Judoka teammate, Yolande Bukasa Mabika, Popole is originally from Bukavu in the DRC. His mother was murdered when he was only six years old. Afterward, he wandered in a rain forest for a week before he was rescued. As a professional Judoka, he represented the Democratic Republic of the Congo in international competitions. Along with Yolande, Popole sought asylum in Brazil during the World Judo Championships in 2013. He currently trains at the Instituto Reação in Rio de Janeiro.
Yonas Kinde (age 36; country of origin: Ethiopia; sport: Marathon) – Yonas left Ethiopia due to political problems. He has been under international protection in Luxembourg since October 2013. He has competed in many marathons and reached the qualifying standards for Rio during the Frankfurt Marathon in October 2015. He currently trains at the national school of physical education and sports in Luxembourg.
Rose Nathike Lokonyen (age 23; country of origin: South Sudan; sport: 800 meters) – After her community was burned by armed men, ten-year-old Rose and her family left South Sudan and arrived in Kakuma refugee camp in 2002. Her parents returned to South Sudan in 2008 but her siblings remained in Kakuma refugee camp. During her time at school, she participated in many barefoot running competitions and in 2015 she participated in a 10 km run in Kakuma organized by the Tegla Loroupe Foundation. She has been training with the foundation ever since.
The Refugee Team is a part of a broader effort on the part of the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) to assist and bring attention to refugees. As IOC President Thomas Bach has said, the Refugee Team “will be a symbol of hope for all the refugees in our world, and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis. It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society.” It’s an important role for these young athletes, and we certainly wish them the best at the Olympic Games and beyond.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery in art, immigration is the highest form of flattery in politics. The decision to move to a particular country demonstrates the belief that that country is worth living in. So as the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia approaches, it will be interesting to compare the number of athletes who seek asylum in Russia to the number who sought asylum during the 2012 Games in Great Britain.
Sochi-o-path
To make this comparison, we first have to determine how many athletes sought asylum in 2012. I have not seen a concrete count of the number of athletes who “defected” during the 2012 Games. This is because asylum is confidential, and so the British government has not published any figures on Olympic asylum seekers. However, one source estimates that at least 20 athletes and coaches defected during the Games. Cameroon had the most defections: Seven of its 37 athletes did not return home.
When athletes (or anyone) seeks asylum, we can assume that there is a “push” and a “pull.” The “push” is the bad conditions in the home country that lead the person to flee, and the “pull” is the good conditions in the country where the person seeks refuge. The “pull” of the UK is obvious: It is a developed, liberal democracy that generally respects human rights and offers opportunities (educational, professional) for its residents. People fleeing persecution (or economic deprivation) would generally be lucky to start a new life there.
The “pull” of Russia is less obvious. For one thing, Russia is not known as a welcoming destination for non-Russians. Racism and xenophobia are problems, and many minorities have been targeted and killed. Homophobia is also rampant, and institutionalized (though the mayor of Sochi claims that there are no gays in his city). In terms of its economy, Russia is not as an attractive destination as Western Europe or the U.S., but it is better than many places. Finally, the Russian language is not spoken by nearly as many people as English, and so this might create some disincentive for potential asylum seekers. For all these reasons, I doubt we will see many athletes defecting to start new lives in Russia.
To be fair, many of the source countries for asylum seekers do not send athletes to the Winter Olympics. But even if they did, I doubt many of them would desire to resettle in Russia. Conditions there are simply not conducive to starting a new life, particularly for people who come from Africa or Central Asia.
There have, of course, been a few high profile asylum seekers in Russia. Edward Snowden is one, but I don’t think he deliberately chose Russia as his destination country. Instead, it seems he got stuck there on the way to somewhere else. So the Russians really can’t claim him as someone who had a burning desire to resettle in their country.
Another immigrant to Russia is Gerard Depardieu, a “tax refugee” from France who (sort-of) left his homeland due to high taxes and (kind-of) settled in Russia. I suppose in Mr. Depardieu’s case, there was a “pull” from Russia, but that seems more to do with his friendship with President Putin (who summarily granted him citizenship last year) than with his desire to seek a better life there. Indeed, though Mr. Depardieu has citizenship and an address in Russia, it is unclear how much time he actually spends there.
The bottom line is, I don’t think Russia is seen by many as a desirable place to resettle, and I expect that we won’t see many athletes defecting during the upcoming Games. Perhaps the Russians will be pleased by this (Russia for the Russians!). But maybe upon reflection, they will find that it demonstrates a darker truth about the culture and society that they have created.
The Paralympic Games wrapped up earlier this week in London, and like the Olympic Games, some athletes have decided to seek asylum rather than return home.
Two athletes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dedeline Mibamba Kimbata and Levy Kitambala Kinzito, have supposedly filed for asylum in the United Kingdom. Ms. Kimbata seems to be the more well-known of the two. She was a teenage basketball player from Kinshasa who lost both legs to a land mine when she was 18 years old. “I thought my life was over,” she said. “People told me I had a new life now, but I thought: ‘How can you tell me this when you have legs and I do not? Even if I accept this new life I do not have legs.'” After two years in the hospital, where she often had to sleep in the corridor and borrow a wheelchair just to reach the bathroom, she received prosthetic legs from the Red Cross.
Ms. Kimbata (left) received a racing wheelchair from Anne Wafula Strike, a Kenyan-born British athlete.
Ms. Kimbata is now a wheelchair racer. She states that the DRC received money for her to pay for a racing wheelchair, but she never received the chair. She arrived in the UK with her orthopedic chair (which is designed to be pushed by someone else) and only received a racing wheelchair when another athlete generously helped her out.
In the United Kingdom, she decided to seek asylum. Ms. Kimbata told the press that she saw her neighbors shot dead by government troops on election day and that 95% of people in her area voted against President Kabila. While these events probably would not qualify Ms. Kimbata for asylum (at least under U.S. law), the fact that she is a high-profile athlete speaking out against her government may put her at risk, particularly given the repressive nature of the regime in her country. For these reasons, she likely has a good chance for success in her asylum claim.
It seems that all together, at least six Congolese athletes and coaches (from the Olympics and the Paralympics) have requested protection in the UK. As I have written before, such high-profile defections are a powerful repudiation of the home government, and hopefully they will help bring about some desperately needed changes.
Finally, having assisted many asylum seekers in the United States, I have witnessed how difficult it is to leave everyone and everything behind to seek refuge in a foreign land. It must be even more daunting for someone like Ms. Kimbata, who will have to live with her serious disability in a new place and (presumably) without family support. She is obviously a very courageous woman, and I hope that she will find safety and success in her new country.
A dozen years ago it seemed impossible that Lopez Lomong would be running as a member of the United States Olympic team. In 2000, he was 15 years old and living in Kenya. Most of his life had been spent in refugee camps.
Lopez Lomong: Living the Dream.
Mr. Lomong grew up in rural Sudan, without running water or electricity. When he was still a boy, rebel soldiers kidnapped him and other children, intending to turn them into soldiers. The rebels drove the children to their camp in a truck–it was the first time Mr. Lomong had ridden in a vehicle. He escaped from the camp with other boys and ultimately arrived in Kenya, where border guards sent them to a refugee camp.
Life in the camp was difficult–there was not enough food and nothing to do. Mr. Lomong began running as a form of escape: “When I ran, I was in control of my life,” he writes. “I ran for me.” He got into the habit of running the perimeter of the camp–18 miles–in bare feet.
In 2000, he walked five miles with some friends to watch the Olympics on a small black and white television. Inspired by American runner Michael Johnson, his dream was born: To run in the Olympics for the United States of America.
In 2001, the U.S. brought 3,800 “lost boys” to the United States for resettlement. Among them was Lopez Lomong. In the U.S., he continued running–it was something familiar to him in his new country.
In 2007, Mr. Lomong became a United States citizen. “Now I’m not just one of the ‘Lost Boys,'” he told reporters. “I’m an American.” He went to Beijing with the U.S. Olympic team in 2008, but he did not qualify for the final round due to an injury.
Since he has been in the U.S., Mr. Lomong wrote a book about his experience, Running for My Life, and established a foundation to help people in his native South Sudan.
Now, he is again competing with Team USA. (As a side note, more than 40 athletes on our national team are foreign-born.)
This time around, Mr. Lomong has a chance for gold. He has qualified for the finals of the men’s 5,000 meter race, which is scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll see him on the podium. It would be another remarkable achievement in an extraordinary life.
The torch has not yet been lit, but the first Olympic athlete has already requested asylum in Great Britain. CBS News reports that a Sudanese runner scheduled to compete in the 800-meter race has appeared at a police station in Leeds and asked for political asylum.
If Omar Al Bashir is your “president,” you better be able to run fast.
It is not surprising that a Sudanese man would seek asylum–his country is run by an indicted war criminal, Omar Al Bashir, who is responsible for many thousands of deaths. As the games continue, it will be interesting to see how many more Sudanese (and athletes from other countries) seek protection in Great Britain. The New York Times has listed several noteworthy instances of athletes seeking asylum at previous Games:
In August 1948, London was the scene of one of the earliest reported asylum requests by someone associated with the Olympic Games. Marie Provaznikova, 57, the leader of the Czechoslovakian women’s gymnastics team and one of the most popular women in her country, sought asylum in the United States rather than support a purge in the Sokol national fitness organization, of which she was a leader.
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, an Iraqi weight lifter, Raed Ahmed, ran from the athletes’ village into a waiting car and sought asylum from Saddam Hussein’s government. He was allowed to stay in the United States after he cited a fear of execution upon his return. Persistent rumors from Iraq suggested that Mr. Hussein’s son Uday used beatings and other torture to punish those who did not perform to his liking at international sporting events.
Before the 2008 Olympics, seven members of the Cuban soccer team sought asylum after a qualifying game against the United States in Florida. At the time, one of them, Yenier Bermudez, told The Miami Herald that the players were “feeling hopeful about our new lives.”
The entire Eritrean national soccer team fled during a 2009 competition in Kenya. Only a coach and an official emerged from the team’s plane when it returned home. It was the third time that players had failed to return, soccer officials said. Eritrean athletes are now asked to pay a bond before leaving the country for sporting events, the BBC reported.
Frankly, I think it is wonderful when high-profile athletes defect from repressive regimes. It serves as a visible repudiation of those regimes and perhaps provides some succor to the regimes’ opponents.
While one athlete defecting from Sudan will probably not bring down the government, it does serve as a powerful reminder that the government of that country represses and murders its own people. And sometimes the actions of one person capture the moment and cause great change. Witness Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruit vendor whose suicide launched the Arab Spring. I do not know whether the Sudanese athlete’s defection will have any larger effect on his country, but we can always hope.
