Refugee team members proud of identities, but also have Olympic dreams

Members of the Refugee Olympic Team will have their voices heard around the world during the Paris Games, increasing awareness for millions of displaced people, but they are equally ambitious in the hunt for medals, the team's flagbearers said on Tuesday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has assembled its largest refugee team to date for the 2024 Games that start on Friday, with 37 athletes set to compete in the French capital. They were welcomed by the Olympic governing body at its 142nd session in Paris on Tuesday. The team will participate in events across 12 different sports.

"Just for our name 'Refugee Olympic Team' to be called out, refugees all around the world will acknowledge us," Cameroon-born boxer Cindy Ngamba, currently based in the United Kingdom, told Reuters. "We are seen as a team, we are seen as athletes, as fighters, hungry athletes who are part of a family. We are not afraid, not ashamed and are proud to be refugees. We know we are not with them but we can feel the energy."

The IOC unveiled its first refugee team for the 2016 Rio Games with 10 athletes to raise awareness of the issue, as hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere to escape conflict and poverty.

"It matters 100 percent. The foundation is about the team, about a family. Being part of the unique family is what it is all about. We competed individually in the past, or two to three of us. Now we are a big group, a family going out there to represent the refugee team. We will hold our head high and be proud of the team we are part of," Ngamba said.

"It shows we are not just refugees. We are athletes. (People) see us as refugees but forget we are athletes with the same goals as the other countries represented here. We can achieve the same thing, win the same thing, have the same drive, the same hunger and the same energy."

Co-flagbearer Yahya Al Ghotany, who will compete in taekwondo, said that they are sending a message of hope. Al Ghotany only took up the sport after arriving at a refugee camp in Jordan.

"It is a wonderful feeling knowing I am representing many people who have gone through the same experience as me, just like me," he told Reuters. "Representing more than 100 million displaced people across the globe. It is very important because it sends a message of hope. There is always hope in passion."

(With input from agencies)