Cheering on the bravest: the 2024 Refugee Paralympic Team

By L'Osservatore Romano

The International Paralympic Committee has announced the names of the eight athletes and one guide runner who will participate in the Paris Paralympics from 28 August to 8 September, as part of the Refugee Team. Nyasha Mharakurwa, who represented Zimbabwe in wheelchair tennis at the 2012 London  Paralympic Games,  will lead the team as head of mission.

The Refugee Paralympic Team represents more than 100 million forcibly displaced people and all people with disabilities. The athletes originally hail from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Colombia and Cameroon and were given asylum in Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain, Greece and Italy. They will compete in six paralympic sports: athletics, weight-lifting, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon and fencing.

The following are the athletes who will be competing in the Paris Paralympics:

— Salman Abbariki, originally from Iran, currently living in Germany. He participated in the 2012 London Games in shot put and the 2010 Asian Paralympic Games, where he won a gold medal and broke the Asian record.

— Ibrahim Al Hussein, originally from Syria, currently living in Greece, who will be participating in his third successive Paralympics as a member of the Refugee Team. After competing in para swimming, this year he will compete in para triathlon.

— Guillaume Junior Atangana, originally from Cameroon, currently living in the United Kingdom, will compete as a sprinter in the 100 meter and 400 meter T11 events. He participated in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games where he came fourth in the 400m T11.

— Hadi Darvish, originally from Iran,  currently living in Germany,  will compete in para power lifting.

— Amelio Castro Grueso, originally from Cameroon, currently living in Italy, will compete in wheelchair fencing.

— Hadi Hassanzada, originally from Afghanistan,  currently living in Austria, will compete in para taekwondo.

— Zakia Khudadadi, originally from Afghanistan, and currently living in France, will compete in para taekwondo.

— Sayed Amir Hossein Hosseini Pour, originally from Iran, currently living in Germany, will compete in table tennis.

Speaking about the Paris Paralympic Refugee Team, Filippo Grandi, un High Commissioner for Refugees, highlighted the Team’s motivation. “For a third consecutive Paralympics, a team of determined, inspirational refugee athletes will show the world just what they can achieve if given the chance. Refugees thrive when given the opportunity to use, develop and showcase their skills and talents, in sport and in many other walks of life”.

In his preface to the Book, titled, “Games of Peace. The Soul of the Olympics and the Paralympics”,  Pope Francis highlighted the importance of inclusivity in sports. “I think of athletes with disabilities. I am always amazed watching their performances and listening to their words. The goal of the Paralympic Movement is, not only to celebrate a great event, but to demonstrate what people — despite being severely wounded in life — can achieve when given the opportunity. If it applies to sports, it must apply even more to life”.

The Paralympic Games have their origins in the 1948 London Olympic Games when Dr Ludwig Guttman organized the first competition for wheelchair athletes at  Stoke Mandeville Stadium  in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Dr Guttman had fled Nazi Germany with his family and had settled in the UK. In 1943, anticipating an influx of paralysed soldiers, the British government asked Dr Guttman to be Director of a new national spinal injury centre at  the Emergency Medical Services Hospital in Stoke Mandeville. At the time, treatment for paraplegics consisted largely  in palliative care, mostly  for complications that were not life threatening such as pressure sores and infections,  and could have been avoided through regular movement. Dr Guttman completely transformed the way patients were treated, introducing rehabilitation, physiotherapy, and  sports as  integral methods of therapy both for physical strength and for self-respect.

On 29 July, the day of the opening of the 1948 Olympic Games, 16 injured servicemen and women competed in an archery contest, in what Dr Guttman called the Stoke Mandeville Games, a milestone that gave rise to the Paralympic Movement.

In 1952, Dutch ex-servicemen and women joined the Movement. Both the national and international Stoke Mandeville Games continued to be played at Stokes Mandeville Stadium until 1960, when they were played in Rome at the same time as the Olympic Games, and became the first Paralympic Games.