Tokyo Olympian Tachlowini Gabriyesos will lead a six-member Athlete Refugee Team (ART) to next month's World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Gabriyesos, 24, made waves one year ago when he finished 16th in the Olympic marathon in Sapporo, beating some of the world's best marathoners.
&ldquo;It makes me so proud to once again wear the Athlete Refugee Team vest at the World Championships,&rdquo; said Gabriyesos, a native of Eritrea who made his Athlete Refugee Team debut at the 2019 World Championships in Doha where he competed in the 5000m. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t represent a country, but millions of people without one. I want to be a role model for refugee youth around the world and wish to show the world once again that refugees can be strong, that we are hungry for success and that we deserve equal opportunities.&rdquo;
Gabriyesos fled conflict and bloodshed in Eritrea at age 12 and journeyed through Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt before crossing the Sinai desert on foot to Israel where he's been living since 2010. He began running soon after and eventually found that he was best suited for athletics' longest running event.
At the Hahula Galilee Marathon in Israel in March 2021, Gabriyesos clocked 2:10:55 to become the first refugee athlete to meet an Olympic qualifying standard. He later served as the co-flag bearer for the Olympic Refugee Team at Tokyo&rsquo;s Opening Ceremonies. After his solid performance in Sapporo's hot and muggy conditions, Gabriyesos improved to 2:10:09 at the Seville Marathon in February.
After its involvement with the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team that competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, World Athletics established the Athlete Refugee Team in 2017 to provide refugees with high level training and competitive opportunities. It is the world&rsquo;s only year-round team composed solely of refugee athletes. The team has been represented at almost every World Championship event since, in addition to a growing number of continental and regional events, most recently the European 10,000m Cup in May and the African Championships earlier this month.
"On this World Refugee Day, our Athlete Refugee Team brings a powerful and inspirational message of hope and solidarity to the world, at a time when it's truly needed," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. "They're also showing, through their rapid development and world class performances, that they do belong among the world's best athletes."
<h2>Representing a community of 89 million</h2>
When the refugee team was introduced at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, that squad of 10 &ndash; six competing in athletics &ndash; represented 65 million people around the world who had been forcibly displaced from their homes. That figure soared to more than 82 million by 2020 and, propelled by conflict, the climate crisis and skyrocketing inequality, has grown to 89.3 million at the end of 2021. The six athletes who are set to compete in Eugene next month will represent a community that collectively would be the 17th most populous country on the planet.
Similarly, the number of athletes involved in the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team project continues to grow. More than 40 athletes are now involved in the programme, training at their respective bases in Kenya, Israel, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Canada and Portugal.
Gabriyesos will be joined by Jamal Abdalmajid Eisa-Mohammed, a native of Sudan, who will make his second consecutive World Championships appearance in the 5000m. The 28-year-old improved his lifetime best over the distance to 13:42.98 at the Olympic Games last year.
Dorian Keletela, 23, will be making his third ART appearance after outings at the 2021 European Indoor Championships and last summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo. In the Japanese capital, he clocked 10.33 to win his 100m heat in the preliminary round, smashing his previous career best by 0.13. He improved to 10.27 last year and at the moment has a 10.47 season's best.
Fouad Idbafdil, a refugee from Morocco who is based in France, rounds out the men's squad. The 34-year-old steeplechase specialist improved his lifetime best to 8:37.94 nine days ago. He too competed on the ART squad in Doha in 2019.
The women&rsquo;s team is led by Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who will bring plenty of experience to the start line of the 1500m. The 27-year-old native of South Sudan, who is based at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation training camp in Ngong, Kenya, will be making her second World Championships appearance after her debut in 2017. Nadai is a two-time Olympian and most recently competed at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March and the African Championships in Mauritius 11 days ago. She set her 4:31.65 lifetime best in Tokyo last year.
She'll be joined by Atalena Napule Gaspore, another South Sudanese athlete from the Loroupe camp, who will be making her Athlete Refugee Team debut competing in the 800m.
World Athletics
<h3>Athlete refugee team for WCH Oregon22</h3>
Women 800m: Atalena Napule Gaspore 1500m: Anjelina Nadai Lohalith
Men 100m: Dorian Keletela 5000m: Jamal Abdalmajid Eisa-Mohammed marathon: Tachlowini Gabriyesos 3000m steeplechase: Fouad Idbafdil

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

The six athletes will represent a community of 89 million

Gabriyesos to lead six-member Athlete Refugee Team for World Athletics Championships Oregon22

On the opening night of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Tachlowini Gabriyesos served as a flag bearer for the&nbsp;Refugee Olympic Team. On the Games&rsquo; final day, he lined up on the front line at the start of men&rsquo;s marathon. Standing six runners to his left was the reigning champion and world record-holder, Eliud Kipchoge.
By any measure, the 23-year-old &ndash; who fled conflict and bloodshed in his native Eritrea at age 12, journeyed through Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt before crossing the Sinai desert on foot &ndash; had come a long way.
But his journey to that start line wasn&rsquo;t just about reaching it.
"I want do the best I can, not just to be in Tokyo but to do a really good competition,&rdquo; he said in mid-June, just a few hours after learning that he been selected for the team. &ldquo;I want to make history for refugees by making a very good competition in the marathon.&rdquo;
Last March, Gabriyesos became the first refugee athlete to meet an Olympic qualifying standard when clocking 2:10:55 at the Hahula Galilee Marathon, so expectations were high.
On Sunday (8) he admirably lived up to them, finishing 16th in the race through the streets of Sapporo where he beat many of the best marathon runners on the planet. He clocked 2:14:02, a solid performance given the balmy conditions and tactical nature of the race.
&ldquo;It was very windy and a little hot, so I'm happy with the time," said Gabriyesos, who raced the distance for just the third time. But he clearly had more in the tank as he finished. "Yes, I probably could have run faster. But it's okay, it's my first Olympics and I'm so, so excited to be here. I&rsquo;m really, really happy right now." 
<h3>Representing a community of 80 million</h3>
For the second consecutive Olympic Games, performances like those by Gabriyesos were a source of inspiration for tens of millions of displaced persons from around the world, and their stories resonated with millions more.
When the team was first introduced in Rio five years ago, that squad of ten &ndash; six competing in athletics &ndash; represented 65 million people around the world who had been forcibly displaced. That figure soared to more than 82 million in 2020 and, propelled by conflict, the climate crisis and skyrocketing inequality, continues to grow.
The team was established to bring attention to the plight of refugees, to share a message of hope for and solidarity with those faceless millions, and an opportunity for a handful of athletes to illustrate that they too belong on a stage with the finest athletes in the world while at the same representing a community that collectively, would be the 20th most populous planet in the world.
Dorian Keletela, the first refugee athlete to compete in a sprint event at the Olympic Games, relished the opportunity.
"To represent 80 million refugees is very important to me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It's almost indescribable." 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61129ea2a2540753d60a9041.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Dorian Keletela competes in Tokyo (&copy; Christel Saneh)
 He also competed well.
The 22-year-old Congolese native who is based in Portugal won his 100m heat in the preliminary round in 10.33, smashing his previous career best by 0.13.
"The most important thing for me was to advance to the next round and I've done it," said Keletela, who represented the Athlete Refugee Team at the European Indoor Championships earlier this year. "I wasn't nervous and I'm confident."
His heat victory was also a milestone symbolically, marking the first time a refugee athlete was first to cross a finish line at a global competition. Images of him winning that heat were transmitted, shared and published around the world.
"I'm very proud of that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I'm very proud of this team.&rdquo;
He clocked 10.41 in the next round and didn't reach the semifinals, but was still upbeat about the experience, praising his coach Francis Obikwelu, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, for helping him get this far.
"I started training with Francis in March," he said. "It was complicated, everything changed, but I'm in shape and I'm going to (keep showing) the work that has been done. " 
<h3>Big PB for Mohammed</h3>
The IOC&rsquo;s Refugee Olympic Team competed in Tokyo under the French acronym EOR, which stands for Equipe Olympique des Refugies. In all other national, continental and international competitions, refugee athletes compete as part of the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team (ART), which illustrates the fundamental importance of the governing body&rsquo;s support for the refugee team project.
Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed, who has competed on several ART squads, also raced well in his Olympic debut, clocking 13:42.98 in his 5000m heat to smash his previous best of 13:55.74. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6112a091a2540753d60a9047.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed races in the 5000m heats&nbsp;(&copy; Dan Vernon) 
"It was a good experience but I hope next time it will be better," said Mohammed, a native of Sudan who has been based in Tel Aviv since 2010.
The notoriously physical nature of major championships heats forced him to race cautiously early on so he&rsquo;d stay out of trouble. If he'd been a little more aggressive, he said, he would have gone a lot faster. "In Israel, we don't ever race like this. So I fell a little behind and then had to catch up over the last few laps.&rdquo;
He'll now take a week off then return to training to focus on the upcoming cross country season.
Mohammed made his ART debut at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships where he finished 85th, beating many of the world's best runners. More recently he won the 5000m at the Israeli championships. 
<h3>PBs for Lokonyen and Lohalith</h3>
Rose Nathike Lokonyen, the flag bearer for the first Refugee Olympic Team in Rio five years ago, also achieved what she set out to do.
The 26-year-old clocked 2:11.87 in her heat of the 800m, a personal best eclipsing the 2:13.39 she clocked at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
"I feel great, I finished my race and I improved on my time," Lokonyen said, admitting that she was pleasantly surprised with the performance, given how much training she had missed due to pandemic restrictions.
Lokonyen, a native of South Sudan, said she hopes that her participation helped bring attention to the plight of the world's refugees.
"Sport has changed my life," she said. "I represent an entire community of refugees to show the world that being a refugee is just a status. We have the potential of doing something, especially in sport, that brings people together, that brings peace, love and unity."
Lokonyen had already left her mark on students at Takata Daiichi Middle School in Rikuzen-Takata when she visited in 2019 after competing at the World Athletics Relays in Yokohama, a visit that clearly left an impression. To wish her well in Tokyo, students from school folded and sent her 1000 origami cranes, a traditional Japanese symbol of hope and encouragement.
Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, another member of the original Rio team, also produced a lifetime best in her 1500m heat, clocking 4:31.65. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61129fc9a2540753d60a9044.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Anjelina Nadai Lohalith with the USA's Elle Purrier St. Pierre (&copy; Dan Vernon) 
"I'm happy about running my PB, but I'm not that happy because I wanted to run under 4:30," she said. "We had some challenges with Covid-19 - I missed nearly a whole year of training. But I never lost hope because I knew that the Olympics were coming."
Paulo Amotun Lokoro, another Rio team member, was even less pleased than Nathike after his 3:51.78 run in his 1500m heat, well short of the 3:47.03 personal best from 2019 he had set out to improve.
"It was very tough, but I ran and managed to finish," he said. "But I'm not happy. I performed poorly. My body was just not moving."
Lokoro is among the most experienced athletes in the ART programme, with appearances at the World Athletics Relays, the World Half Marathon Championships and two World Championships on the track. When Kenya was hit by lockdowns last year, Lokoro was forced to return to the Kakuma Refugee Camp, seriously impacting the training regimen that helped him improve by more than 20 seconds since his first Olympic appearance.
"We have been preparing for long time, but then Covid 19 disrupted our training," he said. "We were not relaxing, but we lost a lot of training."
Meanwhile, James Nyang Chiengjiek, another veteran of the Rio team who trains alongside Lokonyen, Lohalith and Lokoro at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation Training Centre near Nairobi, had a frustrating outing in his 800m heat. Chiengjiek, who has also competed in several competitions as a member of the ART squad, made a bold move for the lead after the break on the first lap, but was clipped in the traffic and tumbled to the track. After shaking off the disappointment, he got back up and finished the race. 
<h3>Opening new doors</h3>
Besides providing an opportunity for refugees to compete, there is also a wider mission at the core of the refugee team project: to illustrate how sport can also open other doors to help refugees integrate and eventually settle into new communities.
Opportunities have already arisen for Lokoro, Nathike and Chiengjiek, who will be moving to Canada later this month thanks to a new scholarship programme that offers a so-called "athletics pathway" for the first time to refugees seeking to resettle in third countries. Under the programme, created through a partnership between UNHCR and the World University Service Canada (WUSC), the three will be granted permanent residency and will continue their education at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. They will also continue training and competing.
&ldquo;This is an important moment,&rdquo; said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. &ldquo;It is the first time sporting potential and athletic capability have been recognised as a route for refugees to access tertiary education.
&ldquo;It is fantastic news for the three refugee Olympic athletes concerned, and we hope this Canadian pilot will serve as an example to relevant actors in Canada and in other countries to encourage them to also offer opportunities to admit refugees for educational, sports, artistic and cultural reasons among so many others.&rdquo;
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics

For the second consecutive Olympic Games, performances by the Refugee Olympic Team were a source of inspiration for tens of millions of displaced persons from around the world, and their stories resonated with millions more.

Refugee Olympic Team athletes step up and inspire in Tokyo

In the lead-up to World Refugee Day on 20 June, members of the Refugee Olympic Team will be sharing their stories in a series of features as they prepare for the Games in Tokyo. The series continues with marathon runner Tachlowini Gabriyesos. 
 Tachlowini Gabriyesos, newly &ndash; very newly &ndash; selected for the Refugee Olympic Team at the Tokyo 2020 Games, is a restless presence on screen as our Zoom call starts.
&nbsp;
The 23-year-old marathon runner from Eritrea, now based in Israel, seems barely able to remain in his chair, his eyes flashing, his teeth dazzling in harmony with his bright white wireless earbuds and polo shirt. Excited.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Congratulations, Tachlowini. When did you get the good news?&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Ten minutes! Ten minutes ago.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Congratulations. And what are you hopes for Tokyo now?&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Wow, wow, wow &hellip;Tokyo!&rdquo; he replies. &ldquo;I am working very, very hard and I have expectation for myself to be a lot better than I am now.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Now my target is to be in my best shape in Tokyo. I don&rsquo;t know if it will be possible but I would like to go to altitude to train before the Olympics and to do the best I can, not just to be in Tokyo but to do a really good competition &ndash; to make history for refugees by making a very good competition in the marathon.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
On 14 March, Gabriyesos became the first refugee athlete to break an Olympic qualifying mark as he comfortably surpassed the time of 2:11:30 by running 2:10:55 at the Hahula Galilee Marathon in only his second race at the distance.
&nbsp;
Asked if he was therefore confident about being named for Tokyo, he responds, vehemently, in the negative. Which, given the difficulties he has faced in realising a strong childhood ambition to become a runner, is hardly surprising.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Of course, I was really scared in the last few weeks,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Also, they told us it&rsquo;s not just the results, it&rsquo;s where you come from and what is your story and which continent you are living in and which is your country of origin. I have been sweating all day until I heard it was official!&rdquo; 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/044439cd-9c11-47a8-9a0f-91fc3ba9ff45.jpg" alt="" width="525" height="359" /> Tachlowini Gabriyesos (&copy;&nbsp;Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed)
 While he has been established in Israel since he was 12, after fleeing his war-torn native land and journeying through Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt before crossing the Sinai desert on foot, his experience of competing internationally has been vexed by visa difficulties.
&nbsp;
While he was able to compete for the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team (ART) over 5000m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, his performance there was undermined by travel difficulties because of his visa, and he was delayed for 27 hours at an airport in Turkey.
&nbsp;
He was due to compete at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, last October, but was unable to obtain a visa.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Yes, it is related,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Before Gdynia I was in the best shape of my life, I was so ready to do the half marathon, but at the last minute I heard that I would not be going because of visas so it was really hard for me for a couple of weeks.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;But I think what will be will be in the end &ndash; that is my belief. So I worked hard for my Olympic goal.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Two months after his disappointment over Gdynia he improved his half marathon best to 1:02:21 as a prelude to his marathon breakthrough.
&nbsp;
But then Gabriyesos had already demonstrated a capacity to deal with far greater challenges than visa wrangles. As a 12-year-old, he and a 13-year-old friend escaped from escalating violence in his region.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I decided to leave, not because I was courageous like a big man, but because I saw what was happening in Eritrea,&rdquo; he says as he relives that traumatic experience. &ldquo;Soldiers are coming inside houses and searching for people.&nbsp; I wasn&rsquo;t a teenager, I was a boy, and I saw I had no future in Eritrea. I was frightened. I just left my country because it was too terrible.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I left with one friend who was a little bit older than me. We didn&rsquo;t think much, we just talked, and a lot of people at the time were leaving Eritrea, and we were just thinking together that we wanted to go to another place, where we could live like human beings and have opportunity.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t think so much about what would happen and where we were headed. We just left &ndash; we were just kids, and we were so frightened. &nbsp;We didn&rsquo;t understand what was happening, we didn&rsquo;t have a map, we just wanted to get to Ethiopia.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;We were walking for two or three days in the savanna, we would go for a few hours and then rest. When it was dark, before we went to sleep my friend told me what his father had said to him and he took off his shoes and pointed them in the direction we needed to go.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;When we woke up the shoes showed the direction in which we needed to go. This is what we did. We were so exhausted at the end we couldn&rsquo;t move our legs. It was too much.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Asked about what they ate, he laughs. &ldquo;We just had a little food and water but we didn&rsquo;t want to take too much as we knew we would have to walk for a long time.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
The pair arrived in Ethiopia with many others who had fled from Eritrea. Eventually Gabriyesos was able to make contact with an aunt who had previously left her native country and travelled to Israel.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;She said she knew I would not be able to go back to Eritrea after I left so maybe I could try to come over and join her,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But first I had to get to Sudan.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I thought Sudan was a near neighbourhood. I said: &lsquo;Okay, in a few hours I will be there.&rsquo; I was a boy &ndash; I didn&rsquo;t know anything! Of course, it was really tough to get there, but when I arrived I called my aunt again.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/b4fd671e-70ae-4b0c-8d92-ed0047320f95.jpg" alt="" width="525" height="424" /> Tachlowini Gabriyesos with&nbsp;Zersenay Tadese
 Gabriyesos&rsquo; aunt had been ferried across to Israel by Bedouin traffickers and she paid again for her nephew to be taken on the same route, which involved him being handed over to a second group before crossing the Sinai Desert to reach the Israeli border.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;There were many people, 20, 30, in a small truck,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;It was the same for all of us &ndash; our relatives already in Israel had paid the traffickers to bring us.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
The Israeli authorities, who classify refugees as asylum seekers, directed Gabriyesos, as an unaccompanied minor, to a boarding school 40 kilometres north of Tel Aviv which also had a running programme.
&nbsp;
That fitted in nicely with the ambitions the young Eritrean had nurtured since he was a few years old when he idolised his illustrious compatriot Zersenay Tadese, winner of six world half marathon titles between 2006 and 2012, as well as the 2007 world cross country title, 10,000m bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 10,000m silver at the 2009 Berlin World Championships.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;When I was just a little boy I had a notebook with Tadese&rsquo;s picture on it,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;I just knew this was the best athlete in Eritrea and I wanted to be like him. He was a big influence on me to become a runner.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Last year when I was training in Ethiopia I fulfilled my dream and I met Zersenay Tadese. He is a really modest person and so nice to everyone, and this is why he is even more of an idol to me now because he is not just a good runner but a special man.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;When they asked me at the boarding school: &lsquo;You love to run?&rsquo; I said: &ldquo;Yes, I want to be Zersenay Tadese!&rdquo;
&nbsp;
While Gabriyesos began his studies and learned Hebrew &ndash; in which he conducts most of this interview via an interpreter &ndash; he was guided in his sporting activities by an Ethiopian-Israeli coach, Alemayu Faloro.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;He took care of me from the first day,&rdquo; Gabriyesos says. &ldquo;He is like my father now. He is a great coach and he has helped me in my personal life not just my running &ndash; he has helped me in everything I&rsquo;m doing like I was his own kid.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;My aunt lives in Tel Aviv and I see her every month or so. And for some years I have an adopted family. I go into their house, their kids are like my little brothers.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/5ac1a7a9-8832-49bc-b533-195cf4c23652.jpg" alt="" width="525" height="461" /> Tachlowini Gabriyesos with his coach,&nbsp;Alemayu Faloro
 While he is now through with his schooling he has been allowed to remain there while pursuing a full-time career as an athlete, running with the Tel Aviv-based Emek Hefer and supported by an International Olympic Committee Refugee Athlete Scholarship.
&nbsp;
The weekend before last Gabriyesos competed as part of the Athlete Refugee Team in the European 10,000m Cup in Birmingham &ndash; another first for the ART project &ndash; with his marathon time getting him into the A race. But, still very much in his endurance training, he went off a bit quick but finished doggedly in 30:29.91.
&nbsp;
But being in the same race as Britain&rsquo;s multiple world and Olympic champion Mo Farah &ndash; currently less certain of a Tokyo 2020 appearance than he is &ndash; made a big impression on the young Eritrean.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was really excited,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;It was crazy for me to be in the same race as Mo Farah, it was a great honour. He is one of the best of all time.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Israel is a beautiful country &ndash; when I was in Birmingham I just wanted to come back to my home because I missed it! It is difficult when you want to travel, you need all these visas, but I am looking on the bright side that I am very happy here.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
While Gabriyesos knows where his family are in Eritrea, communicating with them is very difficult as there is no WiFi or phone connection in their village.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I manage to speak to them once every four or five months,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They are a very big family and their village has no connection.
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&ldquo;I wish I could just call them now &ndash; they would be so proud of me, so happy. But I can&rsquo;t do it.
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&ldquo;The Olympics is my biggest dream. Today is such a special day and I am so excited. Now my goal is just to be the best I can for Tokyo. What is important for me is that I am representing this unique, unusual Olympic Refugee Team. It is a big honour. I feel like I am representing 80 or 100 million people all over the world, that can watch me and can say it is possible and we can do it as well.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I want to be an idol for refugee kids that can see it is possible to achieve your dreams even if you are a refugee boy. All over the world.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

Tachlowini Gabriyesos, newly – very newly – selected for the Refugee Olympic Team at the Tokyo 2020 Games, is a restless presence on screen as our Zoom call starts. 

Ready to make history, Gabriyesos looks to send global message of hope

Seven refugee athletes will compete in athletics at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, part of a squad of 29 announced today (8) by the International Olympic Committee.
Competing under the Olympic flag as the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, the athletes will take part in 12 sports at the postponed Olympic Games from 23 July to 8 August, with athletics represented by the largest squad.
The team includes Rose Nathike Lokonyen, the team's flag-bearer at the 2016 Games in Rio, and Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, another veteran of the 10-member 2016 team. Originally from South Sudan, the two live and train at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation camp in Ngong, Kenya. Lokonyen will compete in the 800m and Lohalith in the 1500m.
Loroupe, a former marathon world record-holder, three -time world champion and 2000 Olympian, will reprise her role as team&rsquo;s Chef de Mission.
Heading the men's squad is Tachlowini Gabriyesos, the 23-year-old Eritrean native who clocked 2:10:55 at the Hahula Galilee Marathon on 14 March to become the first refugee athlete to better an Olympic qualifying standard. His run in Sapporo will mark the third marathon appearance for Gabriyesos, who trains with the Emek Hefer Club in Tel Aviv.
Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed, a Sudanese refugee who has trained with the Alley Runners Club in Tel Aviv since 2014, will compete in the 5000m. Mohammed, 27, competed on the World Athletics Refugee Team (ART) at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships and 2019 World Championships. More recently, he represented the ART at the European 10,000m Cup in Birmingham last weekend, finishing fifth in the B race in 28:52.64. He set his 5000m lifetime best of 13:54.28 in 2019.
Paulo Amotun Lokoro, another South Sudanese refugee based at the camp in Ngong, will also be making his second Olympic appearance, again competing in the 1500m. Lokoro, 29, improved his personal best to 3:47.03 in 2019, and competed on the World Athletics ART at the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships and 2019 World Championships.
Dorian Keletela, a Congolese refugee based in Portugal, will compete in the 100m. Keletela, 22, competed in the 60m at the European Indoor Championships in March, the first refugee athlete to compete at those championships. Keletela has a 10.46 lifetime best set in 2020.
James Nyang Chiengjiek, another member of the squad in Rio who will compete in the 800m in Tokyo, rounds out the squad. He'll be moving up from the 400m event he contested at the last Olympic Games.
Three coaches will be part of the athletics delegation: Francis Obikwelu, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist in the 100m; veteran middle distance coach Joseph Domongole from Kenya; and Alemayehu Gebrmeskel from Israel, who will coach the distance events.
The athletes were selected from a group of 55 refugee athletes currently supported by the IOC through the Olympic Scholarships for Refugee Athletes programme. At the Opening Ceremonies on 23 July, the team will be the second delegation to enter the stadium, sending a powerful message of inclusion, solidarity and hope to the world while bringing further awareness to the plight of more than 80 million people who are currently displaced worldwide. 
<div id="60bf71ef135c0c0b044dcaf8" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/128ba376-5d57-4afa-8740-2dd69a9f66f1.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
IOC President Thomas Bach announces the IOC Refugee Olympic Team for Tokyo 2020</div>
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Congratulations to all of you,&rdquo; IOC President Thomas Bach said, addressing the athletes.
&ldquo;When you, the IOC Refugee Olympic Team and the athletes from the National Olympic Committees from all over the globe, finally come together in Tokyo on 23 July, it will send a powerful message of solidarity, resilience and hope to the world. You are an integral part of our Olympic community, and we welcome you with open arms.&rdquo;
UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi also offered his congratulations.
&ldquo;I am thrilled to congratulate each of the athletes who have been named in the Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;Surviving war, persecution and the anxiety of exile already makes them extraordinary people, but the fact that they now also excel as athletes on the world stage fills me with immense pride. It shows what is possible when refugees are given the opportunity to make the most of their potential.&rdquo;
The full delegation will meet for the first time as a team at the Aspire Academy in Doha on 12 and 13 July before flying to Japan on 14 July. During the Games, the team will be hosted by Waseda University, which will provide accommodation and training facilities, before the athletes move to the Olympic Village for their respective competitions.
The IOC Refugee Olympic Team will compete in Tokyo under the French acronym EOR, which stands for Equipe Olympique des R&eacute;fugi&eacute;s. In all other competitions, refugee athletes compete as part of the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team (ART).
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics

Seven refugee athletes will compete in athletics at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, part of a squad of 29 announced today (8) by the International Olympic Committee.

Refugee Olympic Team announced

The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games looked one step closer to reality in recent days with the staging of the athletics test events, the half marathon in Sapporo on Wednesday (5) and the Ready Steady Tokyo Athletics Meeting at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday (9). Athletes from around the world were tuning in to catch a glimpse of the courses, the facilities and the track they're hoping to compete on when the Games kick off in July, including two clusters of the Athlete Refugee Team from their bases in Tel Aviv and Ngong, Kenya.
One of them was Tachlowini Gabriyesos, a distance runner who trains with the&nbsp;Emek Hefer Club in Tel Aviv who achieved a major milestone at the Hahula Galilee Marathon on 14 March. Contesting the distance for just the second time, the 23-year-old Eritrean native clocked 2:10:55 to become the first refugee athlete to better an Olympic qualifying standard for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
"This (past) year was different because of the pandemic, but most of my training was as planned," said Gabriyesos, who has steadily moved up in distance over the past two seasons. He competed in the 5000m for the Athlete Refugee Team at the 2019 World Championships in Doha but in 2020 found a better fit with longer distances.
He was slated to compete at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, last October, but was unable to obtain a visa. So instead, two months later he improved his half marathon lifetime best to 1:02:21 in the prelude to his marathon breakthrough.
"I think I'm in better shape than I was last year, but physically and mentally it was hard to train with the pandemic restrictions."
Focusing on Tokyo has helped.
"The Olympics is my dream as a professional athlete and it would be a great honour to be part of the Refugee Olympic Team," he said. "I want to show others that everything is possible and they shouldn't give up."
<h3>Lokoro targeting second Olympic appearance</h3>
The International Olympic Committee will announce the composition of its second Refugee Olympic Team (this year competing as EOR, its French acronym) in early June. While the selection process is complex, quality of performance will play a key role. Paulo Amotun Lokoro, a refugee from South Sudan and a member of the inaugural team in Rio, is hoping to make the cut again.
But unlike Gabriyesos, who has largely managed to navigate the pandemic restrictions over the past year, Lokoro, who is based at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation training camp in Ngong, wasn't as fortunate. The camp was forced to close during the first lockdown in Kenya in April of last year, forcing Lokoro to return to the Kakuma Refugee Camp where, training-wise, he found himself alone. He returned to Ngong in December and resumed training only to be forced into another lockdown situation in the beginning of March.
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/17fa40eb-495d-4d43-a378-58f38feedbe0.jpg" width="525" height="348" /> Refugee Athlete Team member Paulo Amotun Lokoro at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019&nbsp;(&copy; Getty Images)
 "It has been frustrating, we haven't had enough time to train," Lokoro said. "And during this lockdown the government has discouraged us from training in public and as a team, so we were training individually."
Lokoro finished 11th in his 1500m heat in Rio, clocking 4:03.96. He's improved steadily since, currently boasting a 3:44.10 lifetime best set in 2019. He also competed in Doha, but, suffering with a hamstring injury, didn't advance from the heats.
"In 2019 I was well prepared," he said. "My shape is different now, but we still hope to catch up before Tokyo."
<h3>World Athletics provides ongoing support</h3>
Since the IOC put the refugee athletes on the international stage in Rio five years ago, World Athletics has entered an Athlete Refugee Team (ART) in almost every major championship: the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships, the 2018 World Cross Country Championships, the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Relays and the 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships. The African and European area federations have opened entry to refugee athletes based on their continents. Those competitive opportunities, coupled with generous scholarships from the IOC and ongoing training and logistical support from World Athletics, has made a difference.
Otmane Nait Hammou, a refugee from Morocco who is based in Sweden, made his Athlete Refugee Team debut at the 2018 World Cross Country Championships, competed in the steeplechase in Doha and more recently at the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia where he finished 67th, clocking 1:03:28 in his competitive debut over the distance and beating some of the world&rsquo;s finest half-marathoners in the process. He's hoping for a spot on the steeplechase start line in Tokyo.
"World Athletics' support to compete at three World Championships did play a big role to keep me feeling hungry and motivated," he said. "With the solidarity support from the International Olympic Committee and my sponsors ON Running and Maurten and my French club ES Sartrouville, it has really made a difference.
"Honestly, it was really hard to keep motivated without having short term goals (during the pandemic), but you can't give up when it comes to the Olympic Games."
<h3>Few competitive opportunities in Kenya</h3>
The pandemic and its lockdowns have impacted the group training in Ngong especially hard. Even with restrictions, athletes based in Europe were able to find some opportunities to compete in 2020 and 2021. For Lokoro and his teammates, their competition slates for 2020 had been all but wiped out. In 2021, just two competitions presented themselves: an Athletics Kenya cross country race in the first week of February and an AK athletics meeting three weeks later.
"We have been facing a lot of challenges, but at least we have been able to train individually," said Rose Nathike Lokonyen, a refugee from South Sudan who was the team's flag-bearer in Rio.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShoutOutSaturday?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShoutOutSaturday</a>! 🏃🏿&zwj;♀️ This week, meet Olympic athlete and UNHCR High Profile Supporter Rose Nathike Lokonyen. Rose was 8 when she fled violence in South Sudan to Kenya. In 2016, she participated in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 👟 Read her story: <a href="https://t.co/wqatFr206K">https://t.co/wqatFr206K</a>
&mdash; UNHCR Canada 🇨🇦 (@UNHCRCanada) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHCRCanada/status/1380875714631770114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async=""></script>

"In 2019 we were training as a team. When you train as a team that fitness and speed will come." It did for Lokonyen who clipped more than three seconds from her 800m career best in Doha. "Since we started in January, we trained for a few months and then the lockdown was put in effect. It's been difficult but we are hoping to compete in the competitions that are coming up."
Others are also trying to remain upbeat.
Before the pandemic hit, 5000m hopeful Ukuk&nbsp;Utho'o&nbsp;Bul said: "We were all training well, it was an Olympic year and we were preparing well. But when the pandemic came the camp closed so we all had to go back to where we came from. When we are training as a team there is a motivation. You always move forward, you motivate yourself. Then I was in a different place. I was alone and training alone. But we are trying our best."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Meet Ukuk 🏃&zwj;♂️ He is an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holder, a 5000m runner, and he is currently training in Kenya.<a href="https://twitter.com/Refugees?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Refugees</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TeglaPeace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeglaPeace</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OlympicsKe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OlympicsKe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WorldAthletics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Olympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Olympics</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RefugeeOlympicTeam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RefugeeOlympicTeam</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrongerTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrongerTogether</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hope?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hope</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OlympicRefuge?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OlympicRefuge</a> <a href="https://t.co/1BQr4mOG0t">pic.twitter.com/1BQr4mOG0t</a>
&mdash; Refugee Olympic Team (@RefugeesOlympic) <a href="https://twitter.com/RefugeesOlympic/status/1382391853492834305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async=""></script>

Dominic Lokolong Atiol is another South Sudanese refugee targeting a spot in the 1500m.
"In my mind I am trying to be focused and ready for any trial or race. If I am there, I will take the chance and do my best."
Angelina Nadai Lohalith is also a South Sudanese focusing on the 800m and 1500m.
&ldquo;It's been so tough for me because I've missed so many competitions and trainings," she said. "It has been challenging.
"My shape in 2019 and 2020 was very good - right now it's hard to compare. But I'm still ready to compete."
Back in Tel Aviv, Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed, a refugee from Sudan who has been living in Israel since 2010 and a member of the Alley Runners since 2014, is another 5000m hopeful.
"Although it has been difficult to race in recent months, I was still able to run a few races and stay positive no matter what," he said. He's been struggling with injury in recent months, but is on the mend. "I am improving every day and I hope to be in full shape again by summer."
And in Lisbon, Dorian Keletela, a refugee from Congo, is aiming to be the first sprinter selected for the Refugee Olympic Team. Keletela, who competed in the 60m at the European Indoor Championships in March, has a 10.46 career best from 2020. He's hoping to compete at the European U23 Championships later this summer as well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Meet Dorian 🏃&zwj;♂️ He is an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holder, a 100m sprinter, and he is currently training in Portugal.<a href="https://twitter.com/Refugees?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Refugees</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WorldAthletics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Olympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Olympics</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RefugeeOlympicTeam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RefugeeOlympicTeam</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrongerTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrongerTogether</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hope?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hope</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OlympicRefuge?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OlympicRefuge</a> <a href="https://t.co/m03IBtkIHR">pic.twitter.com/m03IBtkIHR</a>
&mdash; Refugee Olympic Team (@RefugeesOlympic) <a href="https://twitter.com/RefugeesOlympic/status/1382991746099941378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async=""></script>

Meanwhile Fouad Idbafdil, a Moroccan refugee based in France, is not an IOC scholarship recipient, so he won't be considered for the Tokyo-bound squad. But he has other more immediate aspirations as part of a four-man ART squad who will compete at the European 10,000m Cup on 5 June.
"My real focus now is to help my teammates in Birmingham to achieve our goal," Idbafdil said. He'll team up with Mohammed, Nait-Hammou and Gabriyesos. All four have met the qualifying standard.
Bob Ramsak (with Lam Joar in Nairobi) for World Athletics

Athletes from around the world have tuned in to the recent athletics test events to catch a glimpse of the courses, facilities and track they're hoping to compete on when the Games kick off in July, including two clusters of the Athlete Refugee Team from their bases in Tel Aviv and Ngong.

After a year of pandemic setbacks and challenges, athlete refugees now eyeing Tokyo berths

The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games looked one step closer to reality in recent days with the staging of the athletics test events, the half marathon in Sapporo on Wednesday (5) and the Ready Steady Tokyo Athletics Meeting at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday (9). Athletes from around the world were tuning in to catch a glimpse of the courses, the facilities and the track they're hoping to compete on when the Games kick off in July, including two clusters of the Athlete Refugee Team from their bases in Tel Aviv and Ngong, Kenya.
One of them was Tachlowini Gabriyesos, a distance runner who trains with the Emek Hefer Club in Tel Aviv who achieved a major milestone at the Hahula Galilee Marathon on 14 March. Contesting the distance for just the second time, the 23-year-old Eritrean native clocked 2:10:55 to become the first refugee athlete to better an Olympic qualifying standard for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
"This (past) year was different because of the pandemic, but most of my training was as planned," said Gabriyesos, who has steadily moved up in distance over the past two seasons. He competed in the 5000m for the Athlete Refugee Team at the 2019 World Championships in Doha but in 2020 found a better fit with longer distances.
He was slated to compete at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, last October, but was unable to obtain a visa. So instead, two months later he improved his half marathon lifetime best to 1:02:21 in the prelude to his marathon breakthrough.
"I think I'm in better shape than I was last year, but physically and mentally it was hard to train with the pandemic restrictions."
Focusing on Tokyo has helped.
"The Olympics is my dream as a professional athlete and it would be a great honour to be part of the Refugee Olympic Team," he said. "I want to show others that everything is possible and they shouldn't give up."
<h3>Lokoro targeting second Olympic appearance</h3>
The International Olympic Committee will announce the composition of its second Refugee Olympic Team (this year competing as EOR, its French acronym) in early June. While the selection process is complex, quality of performance will play a key role. Paulo Amotun Lokoro, a refugee from South Sudan and a member of the inaugural team in Rio, is hoping to make the cut again.
But unlike Gabriyesos, who has largely managed to navigate the pandemic restrictions over the past year, Lokoro, who is based at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation training camp in Ngong, wasn't as fortunate. The camp was forced to close during the first lockdown in Kenya in April of last year, forcing Lokoro to return to the Kakuma Refugee Camp where, training-wise, he found himself alone. He returned to Ngong in December and resumed training only to be forced into another lockdown situation in the beginning of March.
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/17fa40eb-495d-4d43-a378-58f38feedbe0.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="629" /> Refugee Athlete Team member Paulo Amotun Lokoro at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019&nbsp;(&copy; Getty Images)
 "It has been frustrating, we haven't had enough time to train," Lokoro said. "And during this lockdown the government has discouraged us from training in public and as a team, so we were training individually."
Lokoro finished 11th in his 1500m heat in Rio, clocking 4:03.96. He's improved steadily since, currently boasting a 3:44.10 lifetime best set in 2019. He also competed in Doha, but, suffering with a hamstring injury, didn't advance from the heats.
"In 2019 I was well prepared," he said. "My shape is different now, but we still hope to catch up before Tokyo."
<h3>World Athletics provides ongoing support</h3>
Since the IOC put the refugee athletes on the international stage in Rio five years ago, World Athletics has entered an Athlete Refugee Team (ART) in almost every major championship: the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships, the 2018 World Cross Country Championships, the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Relays and the 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships. The African and European area federations have opened entry to refugee athletes based on their continents. Those competitive opportunities, coupled with generous scholarships from the IOC and ongoing training and logistical support from World Athletics, has made a difference.
Otmane Nait Hammou, a refugee from Morocco who is based in Sweden, made his Athlete Refugee Team debut at the 2018 World Cross Country Championships, competed in the steeplechase in Doha and more recently at the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia where he finished 67th, clocking 1:03:28 in his competitive debut over the distance and beating some of the world&rsquo;s finest half-marathoners in the process. He's hoping for a spot on the steeplechase start line in Tokyo.
"World Athletics' support to compete at three World Championships did play a big role to keep me feeling hungry and motivated," he said. "With the solidarity support from the International Olympic Committee and my sponsors ON Running and Maurten and my French club ES Sartrouville, it has really made a difference.
"Honestly, it was really hard to keep motivated without having short term goals (during the pandemic), but you can't give up when it comes to the Olympic Games."
<h3>Few competitive opportunities in Kenya</h3>
The pandemic and its lockdowns have impacted the group training in Ngong especially hard. Even with restrictions, athletes based in Europe were able to find some opportunities to compete in 2020 and 2021. For Lokoro and his teammates, their competition slates for 2020 had been all but wiped out. In 2021, just two competitions presented themselves: an Athletics Kenya cross country race in the first week of February and an AK athletics meeting three weeks later.
"We have been facing a lot of challenges, but at least we have been able to train individually," said Rose Nathike Lokonyen, a refugee from South Sudan who was the team's flag-bearer in Rio.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShoutOutSaturday?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShoutOutSaturday</a>! 🏃🏿&zwj;♀️ This week, meet Olympic athlete and UNHCR High Profile Supporter Rose Nathike Lokonyen. Rose was 8 when she fled violence in South Sudan to Kenya. In 2016, she participated in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 👟 Read her story: <a href="https://t.co/wqatFr206K">https://t.co/wqatFr206K</a>
&mdash; UNHCR Canada 🇨🇦 (@UNHCRCanada) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNHCRCanada/status/1380875714631770114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
 "In 2019 we were training as a team. When you train as a team that fitness and speed will come." It did for Lokonyen who clipped more than three seconds from her 800m career best in Doha. "Since we started in January, we trained for a few months and then the lockdown was put in effect. It's been difficult but we are hoping to compete in the competitions that are coming up."
Others are also trying to remain upbeat.
Before the pandemic hit, 5000m hopeful Ukuk&nbsp;Utho'o&nbsp;Bul said: "We were all training well, it was an Olympic year and we were preparing well. But when the pandemic came the camp closed so we all had to go back to where we came from. When we are training as a team there is a motivation. You always move forward, you motivate yourself. Then I was in a different place. I was alone and training alone. But we are trying our best."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Meet Ukuk 🏃&zwj;♂️ He is an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holder, a 5000m runner, and he is currently training in Kenya.<a href="https://twitter.com/Refugees?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Refugees</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TeglaPeace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeglaPeace</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OlympicsKe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OlympicsKe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WorldAthletics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Olympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Olympics</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RefugeeOlympicTeam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RefugeeOlympicTeam</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrongerTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrongerTogether</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hope?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hope</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OlympicRefuge?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OlympicRefuge</a> <a href="https://t.co/1BQr4mOG0t">pic.twitter.com/1BQr4mOG0t</a>
&mdash; Refugee Olympic Team (@RefugeesOlympic) <a href="https://twitter.com/RefugeesOlympic/status/1382391853492834305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2021</a></blockquote>
 Dominic Lokolong Atiol is another South Sudanese refugee targeting a spot in the 1500m.
"In my mind I am trying to be focused and ready for any trial or race. If I am there, I will take the chance and do my best."
Angelina Nadai Lohalith is also a South Sudanese focusing on the 800m and 1500m.
&ldquo;It's been so tough for me because I've missed so many competitions and trainings," she said. "It has been challenging.
"My shape in 2019 and 2020 was very good - right now it's hard to compare. But I'm still ready to compete."
Back in Tel Aviv, Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed, a refugee from Sudan who has been living in Israel since 2010 and a member of the Alley Runners since 2014, is another 5000m hopeful.
"Although it has been difficult to race in recent months, I was still able to run a few races and stay positive no matter what," he said. He's been struggling with injury in recent months, but is on the mend. "I am improving every day and I hope to be in full shape again by summer."
And in Lisbon, Dorian Keletela, a refugee from Congo, is aiming to be the first sprinter selected for the Refugee Olympic Team. Keletela, who competed in the 60m at the European Indoor Championships in March, has a 10.46 career best from 2020. He's hoping to compete at the European U23 Championships later this summer as well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Meet Dorian 🏃&zwj;♂️ He is an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holder, a 100m sprinter, and he is currently training in Portugal.<a href="https://twitter.com/Refugees?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Refugees</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WorldAthletics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Olympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Olympics</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RefugeeOlympicTeam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RefugeeOlympicTeam</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StrongerTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StrongerTogether</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hope?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hope</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OlympicRefuge?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OlympicRefuge</a> <a href="https://t.co/m03IBtkIHR">pic.twitter.com/m03IBtkIHR</a>
&mdash; Refugee Olympic Team (@RefugeesOlympic) <a href="https://twitter.com/RefugeesOlympic/status/1382991746099941378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2021</a></blockquote>
 Meanwhile Fouad Idbafdil, a Moroccan refugee based in France, is not an IOC scholarship recipient, so he won't be considered for the Tokyo-bound squad. But he has other more immediate aspirations as part of a four-man ART squad who will compete at the European 10,000m Cup on 5 June.
"My real focus now is to help my teammates in Birmingham to achieve our goal," Idbafdil said. He'll team up with Mohammed, Nait-Hammou and Gabriyesos. All four have met the qualifying standard.
Bob Ramsak (with Lam Joar in Nairobi) for World Athletics

Like most athletes, members of the Athlete Refugee Team had big plans for 2020. For some, it was to earn a spot on the small squad bound for the World Indoor Championships. For others, to race at the World Half Marathon Championships. And for others still, an appearance at the Olympic Games, on the biggest stage of all.
That of course, all changed in March with the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the first half of the month, Paulo Amotun Lokoro was at his base and adopted home, the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation (TLPF) training camp in Ngong, Kenya, working towards what he hoped would be a second Olympic appearance. Lokoro was a member of the original refugee team that competed at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero in 2016 and in the three seasons since, had knocked nearly 20 seconds from his 1500m best. With another season of consistent training, that 3:44.07 personal best, he believed, was due for further revision again in 2020.
But work towards his Olympic ambitions came to a screeching halt when the camp went into lockdown in the waning days of the month, forcing him, and most of his refugee team colleagues who also trained in Ngong, back to the Kakuma Refugee Camp, a sprawling UNHCR-operated facility in northwest Kenya that is currently home to more than 180,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Challenges included access to adequate healthcare and maintaining proper levels of nutrition.
Despite a lack of facilities and the much harsher circumstances at the Kakuma camp, Lokoro and his teammates trained when they could to maintain a base level of fitness and kept in regular contact with Loroupe and their coaches, but saw their entire competitive calendar for the year wiped out.
<h3>Nait-Hammou impresses in Gdynia</h3>
Otmane Nait-Hammou, a refugee from Morocco who competed at the World Athletics Championships and World Cross Country Championships in 2019, was at his training base in V&auml;stervik, Sweden, training for the World Indoor Championships and World Half Marathon Championships, when the lockdowns hit. 
<div id="5f8da8ed0f370d0aa8cecc69" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/a40f1b19-aeea-4b43-a3d1-a45355105274.png');">&nbsp;</div>
Otmane Nait Hammou (centre) in action at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020</div>
&nbsp;
&ldquo;To be honest, I was depressed in the beginning," Nait-Hammou said in June. "I couldn&rsquo;t do my training programme as we had planned. And I couldn&rsquo;t get together with friends. So it was a hard situation.
"Honestly, I'm used to suffering,&rdquo; he continued, with a smile. &ldquo;For me, one year is nothing. It's just one year. It will be a good season with the World Indoor Championships next year and then the Olympics. I'm positive and I'm optimistic."
Unlike Lokoro, Nait-Hammou did have facilities at his disposal and despite lockdowns, was able to maintain a more regular training regimen and even get in some races late in the year, which resulted in a spate of personal bests. Among those, a 1:03:28 performance at the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia where he finished 67th in the field of 122 and beating some of the world&rsquo;s finest half-marathoners in the process. He capped the year with a ninth place finish at the Cursa dels Nassos 10km in Barcelona on New Year's Eve clocking 29:10, another career best.
<h3>Progress and consistency at Tel Aviv base</h3>
Refugee team athletes based in Tel Aviv, working with the Alley Runners Club, faced similar challenges.
Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed, a refugee from South Sudan who has been living in Israel since 2010 and a member of the Alley Runners since 2014, competed sparingly but consistently, producing season's best of 3:53.02 for 1500m, 8:04.09 for 3000m and 13:55.74 for 5000m. His 3000m time was a lifetime best and he was within a second of his best over the other two distances.
Mohammed was training for a spot on the squad bound for Gdynia for the World Half Marathon Championships - he was 85th at the World Cross Country Championships in 2019 on his Athlete Refugee Team debut - but visa issues ultimately kept him from the start line in Poland. Mohammed also completed his studies in sport massage, and now works as a massage therapist at the club. 
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Athlete refugee team member Tachlowini Gabriyesos</div>
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Tachlowini Gabriyesos, a native of Eritrea who competed in the 5000m alongside Mohammed at the 2019 World Championships, produced several lifetime bests, including over 5000m (14:00.53), 10,000m (28:47.67), 10km (28:32), half marathon (1:02:21) and the marathon (2:14:57). Like Mohammed, visa issues prevented him from competing in Gdynia.
There were some high points from the club&rsquo;s younger athletes as well. A squad of six girls aged 15-18, all refugees from Eritrea, qualified for the ISF School World Cross Country Championships which were to be held in Slovakia, but cancelled due to the pandemic. They are now setting their sites on the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi later this year.&nbsp;
<h3>Track construction in Ngong</h3>
Back in Ngong, camp staff made very good use of their down time during the lockdown period. Staff and volunteers carried out maintenance projects on the buildings and grounds, planted and expanded gardens, and cleared a large area where a standard 400-metre track is now being constructed.
&ldquo;The athletes used to walk four kilometres to be able to access a training track that we had to pay for monthly,&rdquo; Daniel Kiptugen, the programming manager and TLPF Refugee Athlete Training Centre Camp coordinator, explained. &ldquo;This had been a great challenge over time for the team and hence we thought of preparing the field to ease this and be able to help them train better.&rdquo;
The top layer of murram soil has been laid and compressed and construction on locker rooms is currently underway, Kiptugen said, and hopes the project will be completed in the next month or two.
<h3>Looking ahead</h3>
Most of the team has returned from Kakuma and is now back in Ngong where they&rsquo;ve resumed their training and studies. While plans for most of 2021 are still very much up in the air, team members are hoping to compete at many of the year&rsquo;s key competitions including the World Athletics Relays in May, the African Championships in June, the Olympic Games in July and World U20 Championships in August.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics

Like most athletes, members of the Athlete Refugee Team had big plans for 2020. For some, it was to earn a spot on the small squad bound for the World Indoor Championships. For others, to race at the World Half Marathon Championships. And for others still, an appearance at the Olympic Games, on the biggest stage of all.

With 2020 challenges behind them, members of the Refugee Team eagerly looking ahead

A squad of six athletes represented the Athlete Refugee Team at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, its biggest team to date at a World Athletics Series event, and quality-wise, its best.
<h3>Big PB for Lokonyen</h3>
The action began on the championships opening night with Rose Nathike Lokonyen, a member of the refugee team at the Olympic Games in 2016, who clocked 2:13.39 in her heat of the 800m, clipping more than three seconds from her previous career best set at the Rio Games.
&ldquo;I always want to improve my best time so I&rsquo;m happy I did that here,&rdquo; said Lokonyen, who served as the team&rsquo;s flag bearer in Rio. &ldquo;The pace was fast but I know that I have to keep on training hard.&rdquo;
Lokonyen, a refugee from South Sudan and now based at the Tegla Loroupe Training Camp for Refugee Athletes in Ngong, a town 28 kilometres from Nairobi, is splitting her time between training and her work towards a degree in business management at a college in the Kenyan capital. &ldquo;Sometimes it&rsquo;s difficult to train well with school and travel, but I must try.&rdquo;
This was the 24-year-old&rsquo;s second appearance at the World Championships - she also competed in London two years ago-- and is already looking ahead.
&ldquo;Now I&rsquo;m going back to begin preparing for Tokyo 2020.&rdquo;
<h3>Mohammed and Gabriyesos tackle the 5000m..</h3>
Later that evening, two squad members competed in the 5000m. In the first head Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed was making his first appearance at the World Athletics Championships.
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Athlete Refugee Team member Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019</div>
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Mohammed, a native of Darfur now living and training in Israel, has improved steadily since his Athlete Refugee Team debut at the World Cross Country Championships Aarhus 2019, where he finished 85th among 140 finishers. He improved his 10,000m best to 28:47.36 in Tel Aviv in April, and to 13:54.28 in the 5000m in July.
Mohammed came to Doha directly from a month-long training camp in Ethiopia, via Tel Aviv, where he spent one night, and then onward to the Qatari capital via Istanbul. The latter was intended as a simple transit stop but an unanticipated visa delay forced him and teammate Tachlowini Gabriyesos to camp out at Istanbul airport for 27 hours. Finally arriving in Doha the day before the race, his body just wouldn&rsquo;t respond.
&ldquo;It was tough tonight,&rdquo; said Mohammed, who stayed with the lead group over the opening half of the race but then faded to finish well back in 14:15.32. &ldquo;My legs just couldn&rsquo;t get going.&rdquo;
He credited his progress in 2019 to several training stints at altitude in Ethiopia over the past eight months and looks forward to more next year as he prepares for the Tokyo Olympics.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to train six months in Ethiopia next year, spending more time at altitude, to continue improving,&rdquo; he said.
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Athlete refugee team member Tachlowini Gabriyesos at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019</div>
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Gabriyesos, who improved his personal best to 14:15.05 in July, struggled too, finishing his heat in 14:28.11. But the 21-year-old, who is also based in Tel Aviv but at a different club, was upbeat with his first Athlete Refugee Team appearance.
&ldquo;The competition was tough, but I will be stronger the next time,&rdquo; he said, with Mohammed serving as his interpreter. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m not at the top level but now I know what it&rsquo;s like to compete with and against the top level.&rdquo;
<h3>..and two in the men&rsquo;s steeplechase</h3>
Two team members competed in the 3000m steeplechase.
Otmane Nait Hammou, who also competed at the World Cross Country Championships in March, will remember his World Athletics Championships debut for its rough and tumble nature after getting caught up in a collision early in the race that forced several runners to fall to the track. He was one.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where my mind was, I don&rsquo;t know how it happened,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it happens, even to professionals. But I didn't give up. I said to myself, my goal is to finish and reach the finish line. I did believe in myself, even though I was very far from my PB.&rdquo;
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Athlete Refugee Team member Otmane Nait Hammou in the 3000m steeplechase at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019</div>
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The native of Morocco who has been based between Sweden and France since 2015, clocked 8:58.71 in July. His race in Doha was just his fourth in the discipline.
His teammate Fouad Idbafdil, another Moroccan based in France who clocked a near lifetime best of 8:54.70 this year, struggled before dropping out of his heat, suffering from foot pain.
His teammate Fouad Idbafdil, another Moroccan based in France who clocked a near lifetime best of 8:54.70 this year, struggled before dropping out of his heat, suffering from foot pain.
<h3>Slight injury slows Lokoro</h3>
Paulo Amotun Lokoro, another member of the Rio team, arrived in Doha just a month after improving his 1500m best to 3:44.10. But he too struggled in his heat, slowed by hamstring pains.
&ldquo;I wanted to do my level best, but the pain caused a problem,&rdquo; said Lokoro, who is also based in the Ngong camp. &ldquo;I had a little hamstring pain so I had to reduce my pace.&rdquo;
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Refugee Athlete Team member Paulo Amotun Lokoro at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019</div>
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Lokoro has improved by nearly six seconds this year, and looks forward to moving to another level next year. Like Lokonyen, he too balances studies with training, but not for much longer. He&rsquo;ll be wrapping up his high school degree by the end of 2019.
&ldquo;When I finish, I will be more free and can focus more on training.&rdquo; Balancing the two, he said, isn&rsquo;t easy. &ldquo;Sometimes I train after school sometimes in the morning before school. But in two months I will be free to train full-time.&rdquo;
Lokoro was also making his first World Championships appearance, and savoured it for the lessons learned.
&ldquo;When I do something wrong or do something good, that is what I want to take out of any experiences, especially one like a world championship.&rdquo;
Those were sentiments echoed by each member of the squad who shared their appreciation to the IAAF for assisting them both with their athletics ambitions and for helping them put a face on, and give a voice to, refugees around the world.
&ldquo;I want to really thanks to IAAF for its support for the refugee team - to help us feel like human beings, not just refugees,&rdquo; Hammou said.
&ldquo;What I can tell my sisters and brothers all over the world is that in life, never give up,&rdquo; Lokonyen said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t lose hope. Because what others can do, a refugee person can also do. We are all human beings and we can do what others do. We can achieve our goals.&rdquo;
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

A squad of six athletes represented the Athlete Refugee Team at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, its biggest team to date at a World Athletics Series event, and quality-wise, its best.