Refugee Team to Participate in 2020 Tokyo Olympics

October 10, 2018

Buenos Aires- The International Olympic Committee decided at a general meeting in Buenos Aires on Tuesday that a refugee team will be formed to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, following the first such initiative in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"We will do our utmost to welcome refugee athletes and give them a home and a flag in the Olympic Village in Tokyo," IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement.

At the Rio Olympics, the refugee team, with full financial backing from the IOC, consisted of a total of 10 swimming, judo and other athletes, including members originally from Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony.

Also at the general meeting, the IOC decided to officially recognize the International Sumo Federation, the president of which is Hidetoshi Tanaka, head of Japan's Nihon University. Jiji Press