Refugee Paralympic Team ready to rock at Paris 2024 Paralympic Games :- The Refugee Olympic Team made history by getting its first medal in Paris in 2024. Now the spotlight is on the Refugee Paralympic Team (RPT).
Refugee Paralympians will be able to participate at the Paralympic Games for the third time. The biggest RPT team to date will be in Paris in 2024, with eight athletes and one sighted guide.
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The eight athletes come from six different host countries and participate in six sports: wheelchair fencing, Para athletics, Para powerlifting, Para table tennis, and Para taekwondo.
Four of them have participated in the Paralympic Games before. One of them did so as a refugee athlete in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
The refugees who will be competing in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris
Ibrahim Al Hussein is going to his third Paralympic Games. He has been in the RPT for the last two games.
The athlete from Greece lost his right foot and part of his left foot when he ran away from the civil war in Syria in 2012. He competed in para swimming the first two times.
Now, though, he does Para triathlon instead, and in 2023, he even came in fourth at a World Triathlon Para Cup event in A Coruña, Spain.
“There have been many, but one of the important events in my life was the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games when I competed for the Refugee Paralympic Team,” he said to IPC. “It changed my life completely and opened doors and new horizons for me.”
Zakia Khudadadi participated for Afghanistan at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, just a few days after the Taliban took over the country. She had already left her home country and moved to France, where she now lives.
There is no left forearm on the Para taekwondo fighter, but she won gold in her category at the European Para Championships 2023 and also won her Paralympic qualifier event. This makes her a real medal contender for the RPT in Paris.
“It is a great honour because I am representing millions of refugees who have disabilities in these Games, and I will participate with immense pride,” she stated. “Hopefully we can inspire them and encourage them to follow their dreams.”
Salman Abbariki is the third returning Paralympian. He is a shot put thrower for the Islamic Republic of Iran and played at London 2012 for that country.
And Abbariki, who is a sitting para athlete, has won medals before: he was the winner of the Asian Para Games in 2010.
He said, “I can tell people with disabilities that your disability should in no way stop you from moving forward.” He now lives in Germany. “You can be an inspiration to other people.”
After representing Cameroon in Tokyo three years ago, Guillaume Junior Atangana will become the first member of the RPT who is blind or visually challenged. He will do so in Paris in 2024.
Right now, Atangana and his refugee guide Donard Ndim Nyamjua are living in the UK. They are going to Paris to compete in Para sprinting over both the 100m and 400m distances.
“I hope to be at my best, to entertain the public and to show everyone what I am capable of on the track,” he said.
Meet the new members of the Refugee Paralympic Team in Paris in 2024.
The other four members of the RPT will be competing in the Paralympics for the first time in Paris. This will be the latest life-changing event in their athletic lives.
Hadi Darvish is an arm lifter who was born in Iran but now lives and trains in Germany. “I dreamed of going to the Paralympics ever since I watched the London 2012 Games on television,” he said to IPC.
Darvish has competed at the national level since moving to Germany. He has also been asked to the world and European championships, but he hasn’t been able to go because he doesn’t have enough money.
There is, however, a chance that Darvish will win in Paris. He won a bronze medal at the World Cup in Georgia in June.
Another first-timer in Paris is Para table tennis player Sayed Amir Hossein Hosseini Pour.
The class Hossein plays in is standing, and he has a physical problem with his upper body. He hopes that his acts will inspire other people.
“Hopefully people will see, through me, that there are always opportunities no matter what you are going through,” he said.
Amelio Castro Grueso, who lives in Italy, will compete for the RPT in wheelchair fencing in Paris. He wants to win a medal after winning third place at the Americas Championships in May.
Castro lost the ability to move his legs in a car accident when he was 20 years old, which forced him to use a wheelchair.
After a long time of healing, he said, “I decided I would write a book to try to inspire people.” This was his start in sports. “Then I had an idea: if I could do a sport well enough to win medals, that would make me famous and get people’s attention.”
“My dream is to win a Paralympic medal and to finish writing my book.”
There is another Para taekwondo player on the RPT team in Paris. His name is Hadi Hassanzada.
The player was born in Afghanistan and grew up in Iran. He tried to go back to his home country but couldn’t because security was getting worse.
Hassanzada lost his right arm and now lives in Austria. He wants to give people all over the world hope.
“Life really becomes meaningful when you find a way to overcome challenges and there is always a way to achieve happiness and success,” he told me.