Refugee athletes eligible to compete in Olympics

Highly qualified athletes who are refugees will be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time, the president of the International Olympic Committee announced Monday.

IOC chief Thomas Bach made the announcement to the U.N. General Assembly, which adopted a resolution urging all countries to stop fighting and observe a truce during the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Bach appealed to all 193 U.N. member states to help the IOC identify talented refugee athletes.

"This will be a symbol of hope for all the refugees in our world and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis," he said.

There are about 20 million refugees in the world, and the number is growing. The U.N. refugee chief, Antonio Guterres, said earlier this month that more than 500,000 refugees and economic migrants have entered Europe this year, and thousands more are following in their footsteps.

Until now, Bach said, qualified refugee athletes were not able to participate because they couldn't represent their home country and national Olympic committee.

Bach said that the IOC has created a $2 million fund "to bring hope through sport to refugees” and that it needs help in identifying more high-level refugee athletes.

But he said the IOC has decided to welcome refugee athletes to the 2016 Olympics, where they will live in the Olympic Village among an estimated 11,000 athletes representing 206 nationals.

"Having no national team to belong to, having no flag to march behind, having no national anthem to be played, these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic anthem," he said.

The General Assembly revived the Olympic truce tradition in 1993 and has adopted truce resolutions before the Summer and Winter Olympic Games since then, but warring countries have continued fighting regardless.

The Associated Press