"VAN" (Olympic Desk - Paris, France - 08.09.2024) :: Zakia Khudadadi, the Refugee Paralympic Team’s (RPT) historic first medal winner, will lead the team out of Paris as the flag bearer at the Paralympic Closing Ceremony on Sunday, marking the end of a stunning Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Eight refugee athletes and one guide runner competed in six of the 22 sports in Paris – Para athletics, Para powerlifting, Para table tennis, Para taekwondo, Para triathlon, and wheelchair fencing.
Khudadadi – competing in women’s Para taekwondo K44-47kg – and Guillaume Junior Atangana – competing in Para athletics in the men’s T11 400m – took home the RPT’s first ever medals, both bronze, dedicating their podium finishes to “refugees around the world”.
“I was lucky enough to be at the Grand Palais when Zakia won her bronze medal and it was happiness, immense pride, (and her) being grateful to the universe. It was just pure joy,” said Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), who delivered the news of Zakia being the closing flag bearer personally to the RPT.
“The team’s reception here in Paris has been overwhelmingly positive,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, who watched the team compete.
For Khudadadi whose post-medal celebration made headlines around the globe and who has lived in France since escaping her country in 2021, carrying the flag in the Closing Ceremony is another moment from the Paralympics she won’t soon forget.
Across the team, personal records were broken and ambitions achieved. Ibrahim Al Hussein finished the Para triathlon in sixth place, his goal. Atangana and his guide runner and fellow refugee, Donard Ndim Nyamjua, achieved a personal best to win bronze in the Men’s T11 400m, as well as a personal best in the qualifying heat for the Men’s T11 100m to reach the semi-finals.
Wheelchair fencer Amelio Castro Grueso made it to the second repechage round of his first competition, and narrowly lost a hard-fought competition to the world’s number one fencer in his second competition of the Games.
"For me, for us, being in Paris is an answered prayer. I am proud to be part of this very special team".
Hadi Hassanzada in Para taekwondo, Sayed Amir Hosseini Pour in Para table tennis, and Hadi Darvish in Para powerlifting all competed during the course of the Games. Salman Abbariki was the final RPT athlete in action, competing in Para athletics on the penultimate day.
Forced displacement disproportionately affects people with disabilities. Globally, it is estimated that at least 18 million people with disabilities have been forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is partnering with the IPC, the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Refuge Foundation to support refugees at the Olympics and Paralympics Games in Paris. This Games has built a legacy for the Refugee Paralympic Team, growing in both performance and numbers.
“This has been the summer of dreams for refugee athletes around the world and builds a strong platform for the 2028 Los Angeles Games and beyond,” added UNHCR’s Menikdiwela.
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