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Olympic flag raised for Refugee Olympic team at athletes village

Xinhua, August 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

The first ever Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) held its flag-raising ceremony at the Olympic Village on Wednesday evening, sending a message of sports spirit to all the refugees around the world.

The Rio Olympics organizers arranged a welcome performance ahead of the flag-raising ceremony, which featured an excellent mixture of aboriginal dance and music.

Five other delegations had the flag-raising ceremony together with the ROT, the flags of Cote d'voire, El Salvador, Mali, Nepal and Paraguay were raised respectively.

When the Olympic flag for the ROT was waving in the air, not only the refugee athletes but also all the attenders were celebrating with cheers and applause.

Ten refugees will participate in the Rio Olympics under the Olympic flag as the International Olympic Committee formed the unique team for athletes that have fled conflict-driven countries and regions.

The team includes five runners from South Sudan, two swimmers from Syria, two judokas from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a marathon runner from Ethiopia, besides five coaches and five other officials. Endit