Canada offers scholarships to three refugee athletes, Path of Recovery

Olympic Games

Three athletes from South Sudan have returned to the Olympics. After their experience in Rio 2016, they now did it in Tokyo 2020. Because of their histories and sporting development, they immigrated to Canada to study at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.

By Claudia Villaban

2021-08-07T15: 59: 30-0300

Sports

Son South Sudan medium distance runners. They settled in Kenya. They were part of the Olympic team of refugees athletes of the International Olympic Committee (COI) Now, after competing Tokyo 2020 Olympics They will join the Athletic Scholarship Program, which offers refugees the opportunity to immigrate to Canada based on their athletic abilities.

They Rose Atheist Logonian, Palo Amodon Logoro and James Niang Xiangjik, Who They have already participated as refugees in Rio 2016. His athleticism is backOr a shortcut, a way, a place to search and find a new life. The Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, founded in 1992, is home to nearly 200,000 people in Africa’s largest area, and the trio showcased their running skills. So the teachers and trainers noticed their skills and suggested that they take them to a training center in Nangong, near Nairobi.

After their participation in Tokyo 2020, they immigrated to Canada to study at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. In this way, they were the first refugees to enter the country within the structure known as the “Athletic Path”. The administration was formed in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency, Sheridan College and the World University Service Canada (WUSC). In addition, three athletes will continue to receive IOC scholarships.

As a boy, James Niang Xiangzek was forced to leave his home to avoid being abducted and forcibly recruited as a soldier. In Pentium. He fled his country at the age of 13 after his father was assassinated by militants in the Second Sudanese Civil War. In 2002, he came to neighboring Kenya, settled in Kakuma and attended a school with excellent corridors. There he joined a group of boys who were training for distance competitions.

Xiangjek’s athletic qualities were discovered by camp coaches, and many years later at a special site in Ngong he was able to coordinate with the Olympic team of the first IOC Refugee Athletes to compete in the 400 meters at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

In Japan, James Niang Chiangzek competed in the 800 meters and finished last in his qualifying series. His tears filled the Olympic field. That’s not good. The South Sudan-born athlete was at the forefront of the race, but, on his return to the first corner, he collided with Spaniard Sal Orthos and collapsed on the track, putting an end to his Olympic dream. Regardless of its fall, Xiangjik got up and kept running until he reached the finish line, Where he finally knelt and broke his heart. “The start of the match was good, but someone hit me from behind. I could not balance myself. It was the worst disappointment of my life.”, he said.

Another athlete who appeared at the center of Kaguma was Paulo Amodon Logoro, who grazed his family’s livestock in South Sudan until 2006, when, at the age of 14, he escaped the effects of the war. After reuniting with his mother in Kagoma, Logoro excelled in a variety of sports, then focused on the 1500 meters, where he competed in the IOC Refugee Athletes Olympic Team in Rio 2016, where he placed 11th. 14 riders in his qualifying series. After his Olympic debut in Brazil, he was part of the Refugee World Athletics Team – the 2017 World Relay, the 2017 Asian Indoor Games, the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships, and the 2018 African Championships. Meters – and the 2019 World Championships

To Logoro, refugees “We hope to prepare and encourage the talented youth who are still there [en los campamentos de refugiados]. We want to support them, encourage them and develop their skills. Their eyes are on us: they are watching us. “.

Rose Atheist Loganion, another refugee athlete and Olympian, fled violence in South Sudan when she was 8 years old. He grew up with his family in the Kakuma refugee camp. During a school competition at the camp, a teacher suggested running a 10km race. Was in second place. Like many children she did it barefoot. Something he said over and over again. In the preview of Rio 2016, it was a winner when tests were conducted for the Olympic team of IOC refugee athletes. He then went to the Tekla Larup Peace Foundation training center near Nairobi, where he focused on the 800 meters. He was the flag bearer in Rio 2016, and in his competition, he finished 7th in his series. After the Rio Games, he was invited to participate in a game in Sweden, and in June 2018, he was invited to Geneva to participate in the fifth formal consultation on the Global Convention on Refugees. He also participated as a delegate to the Community Forum of the Human Rights Council in October 2018 at the Palace des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, he represented refugee athletes at the World Relay Championships in Yokohama, Japan in May 2019 and the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar the same year. Now, in Tokyo 2020 he was 8th in his 800m series.

Three athletes. Three stories out of thousands can be created in each field, where only one sees the opportunity for life recovery.