The Sunday Mail
Lawson Madzivanyika
RESPECTED sports administrator Robert Mutsauki has declared himself ready for the challenge of leading the newly formed refugees’ team at the Rio Olympics.
Mutsauki is the manager of the newly formed team.
“It is a great honour to be given such a direct appointment by the International Olympic Committee and I hope to meet their expectations.
“We are not going there to add numbers but to win medals. Our team consists of top athletes selected from across the globe,” he said.
This year the Olympic movement started a programme meant to identify refugees scattered across the globe who are good at sport but cannot participate because they are domiciled in other countries. It has now culminated in a refugees’ team making an appearance at the Rio Games. “We started this project in June whereby we would identify refugee athletes who are good at different sport codes and build a team.
“Refugees are part of the global village and it is not by choice that they are in situation they find themselves in. We saw the need to show them that they are still part of us.
“This measure also gives hope to the refugee communities as they also have a team fighting for honours at the Rio games. Initially there were 43 athletes selected and with Olympic qualification procedures the number narrowed down to 10,” revealed Mutsauki.
The refugees’ team consists of two judo athletes from DRC (now based in Brazil), two Syrian swimming athletes (based in Germany and Belgium),five Ethiopian athletes (based in Luxemburg) and one South Sudan athlete based in Kenya.
Mutsauki explained what will happen in the event that a refugee athlete wins a medal.
“It’s a refugee’s team and all medals they collect are for refugees and not for the host country they are staying in or the country they left,” he said.
