Refugee team head coach Janeth Jepkosgei has set her focus to pick a formidable team ahead of 2026 Youth Olympic Games that will be staged in Dakar, Senegal and 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA.
Speaking on Friday during the junior time trials at the Kipchoge Keino stadium in Eldoret where top athletes competed in the short and middle running, the former 800m world champion said that the time trial for the refugee team was a great test after a long time of training.
“We have been training for some time and I am happy that the World Athletics and Olympics Refugee team are here to support the refugees which is a good initiative because they feel being accepted in the society,” said Jepkosgei.
She added that they are working on how to pick a team for the Youth Olympics set for Dakar, after Paris 2024. At the same time, we also have the 2028 and we are here to support the talent.
“Working with young athletes especially the refugees is quite emotional because of what they have gone through and some have never met their families since 2013 or before that and once they get time to connect with their families. We are here to better their future and I enjoy it well and I want to do my best,” added Jepkosgei.
Gonzalo Barrio, the Refugee Olympics team program manager said that they are in the country with two missions, to support talent and education to the refugees.
“We have been building a sports Complex and we are embraced by the sports team we found there. We are pleased to see that athletes have proper education. We are witnessing athletes’ talents and refugee scholarships and all of them have been supported across the board,” said Barrio.
He said that they always carry different news, the good news for the Olympics team and other difficult to name the Olympics team.
“It becomes emotional when others will not make it to the team but we are here supporting this program to the Olympics 2028 and the number of refugees is growing across the world. We want to demonstrate to the world that if we give them opportunities they can perform just like other athletes and this program shall run for a long, past the Los Angeles Olympic Games,” said Barrio.
He said that they need to reinforce and demonstrate that they are able.
“We saw in Tokyo where we narrowly missed the podium and we have hope that in Paris we shall have some on the podium which will be the first Olympic medal for a refugee athlete and we are working towards that. Olympic Games should not only be the place for refugee teams that participate in other international events. We want them in each competition. These are real athletes not movie actors who have shown resilience putting s[ports on the line which is very powerful and inspiring to them,” he added.
He explained that at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, they had 10 athletes and the number increased to 29 in Tokyo, Japan which he says is inspiring to millions of refugees across the world.
“We are promoting integration among refugees and other athletes across the world. We are also working with a program in education. We mix sports and education and that is what I do.,” he concluded.
Joeren Carrin, the Senior Programs Manager, Olympic Refuge Foundation said that they want to improve access to sports by refugees.
“We are able to talk about sports. We are amazed by the growing appetite for sports by the refugee team. We have enough talent in the refugees and we are here to stimulate that talent and appetite for sports and make it available for all,” said Carrin.