Refugee Paralympic athletes: Khudadadi's victory 'a huge milestone' • FRANCE 24 English

tell us more uh about the refugee team I'm joined by the mission chief of that team a wheelchair tennis player Nasha Mora Kwa thank you so much for being here thank you for having me now zakia's Victory I know was historic for the team can you talk about what it represented for for par Olympic refugees uh zakia's Victory is a huge milestone uh as you mentioned it's the first ever uh made medal for the team uh since 2016 when the international par Olympic Committee first fielded a refugee par Olympic team at the games so this is really big for us and it puts us on the Limelight and be able to Showcase that these athletes are deserving to be here it is just the circumstances that they find themselves in uh that would make it impossible if it wasn't for this opportunity so this is really something good and you yourself are a par Olympian uh I believe you competed in London for Zimbabwe in 2012 you play wheelchair tennis can you talk about your story and how you got into the sport yeah well it's a long story but uh in short I played the sport since about 2001 uh in Zimbabwe and uh ultimately I competed in London at the games but unfortunately I had to retire a few months later uh due to injury so I've had the opportunity to be working for the international par Olympic Committee the last few years and which resulted in me having this honor of being named the chef di mission for this amazing team and with a group of athletes and this it's really a privilege that I'm able to be with them especially celebrating somebody like zakya with their success and can you tell us about some of the other athletes on the team in addition to zakya kind of what are the profiles what other countries do people come from yeah so we have eight athletes in total and we have two guide Runners and we have six Sports and that's table tennis wi fencing para ta condo para powerlifting para Athletics and para Triathlon uh they all residing in Europe uh and they come from Asia and Africa mostly and ultimately they are in this situation because they are fleeing their home countries due to either some difficulties with some of their positions that they hold or War situations but uh in this case they are very happy to come here and showcase what they can do which is Sport and even though the important story is their situation where they come from they ultimately want to be viewed as Elite Sports people and this is something that they like zakya has shown that uh they actually can compete and win a medal at the games and I know zakya you know competed as part of the refugee team but but really wants to compete as part of the French team which is where she lives now is that sort of the goal for for many of of these athletes that they sort of maybe start on the refugee team and then eventually move on to to an adopted country yeah so for the international par Olympic Committee this is more of a transitional uh opportunity if we can put it that way because ultimately the hope is that the countries where they reside they would at some point be able to become citizens and be able to at least be considered for for for competing on behalf of those countries and what's the energy like on the team because people do come from all different countries so is there kind of a Common Language a common culture what's what's that like it's interesting because we have multiple languages in the team and we almost have to have interpretation every time we have a a group but I can tell you that with technology but also just the athletes and the coaches and the rest of the support staff that is not been a barrier at all so everybody has found a way to merge and jail as a team and the atmosphere is really incredible you would not think that these are individuals that are coming from different countries so up to now really it we don't think of it anymore because the team has really come together and we are really happy how that has come about and I know despite being ruled by the Taliban Afghanistan actually had its own delegation has its own delegation at the par Olympics is it sort of strange for some of the athletes being on the refugee team but then maybe having their home country present as well I I think this is something that they are aware of because ultimately all the countries where these athletes come from are represented uh not just Afghanistan so but this is something that they aware of that uh these teams would come and by and large we have not had any issues with any of them or concerns about being anywhere close to to delegations from countries where they come from because in the teams that are here it's not mostly any issues to do with the individuals that are here and so far we have not had any issues on that and as we saw the opening ceremony you know the par Olympics as a whole are really a strong message about ability about inclusion about sort of overcoming physical limits is that a message that resonates even more when when it's athletes who who are refugees absolutely and I mean uh if you look at the international paralympic committee's vision of making for an inclusive world through Paras sport this group of athletes ordinarily would not have this opportunity to be competing at the games so actually this is a good example of how the IPC is trying to make sure that this opportunity is available and hopefully what the world can see particularly with when the athletes succeed is that first of all they deserve to be here but perhaps at at a local level we can all ask ourselves what can we do to make sure that they have the same opportunities that every other person has not just in sport but broadly speaking as active members of the communities where they they are living in and I know many of the athletes like Zakia you know were were born with whatever disability they have are are there others who perhaps uh were injured in war or other difficult situations yes uh I think we have uh a few examples of athletes that at some point um acquired their disability I know for sure one of our athletes ibraim it happened when he was trying to rescue a friend in his Home Country uh so that is one clear case but by and large uh like I said these are athletes at this stage which uh their their circumstances while important they have embraced who they are including living with the disabilities that they have and they are really uh doing well in making sure that they they they look forward and uh be able to Showcase their best of the games and the refugee team uh is quite young I mean it's only existed since 2016 uh you only have eight players represented or eight athletes represented this year just just briefly kind of what are your hopes and goals for the future of the refugee paralympic team well I think over the three editions since the first one was was competing in Rio the numbers have grown so ordinarily the expectation would be that with the over 120 million displaced people around the world such an opportunity would become a little bit more athletes in it but again this is something that like I said uh from the two that we started in Rio to the six that were in Tokyo now with eight and two guide Runners the goal would be that we provide this opportunity again and hopefully we can have a few more athletes in the team well we are definitely rooting for you and for for all of your athletes on the refugee paralympic team thank you again so much for coming in that's wheelchair tennis player Nasha Mora kurwa the mission chief of the refugee paralympic team competing here in Paris