South Sudan Olympic refugees arrive Rio

For the first time in Olympic history, 10 Olympic refugee athletes will participate in the Rio Olympic games as a refugee Olympic athletes team.

Five of the IOC’s 10-member refugee team arrived in Rio on Friday.

The five members are all from South Sudan and will all compete in middle to long distance running events.

They were previously running for their lives, now they are days away from running for an Olympic medal.

They flew into Rio from Kenya where they are residents of the Kakuma refugee camp.

It is the first time a refugee team will compete at the Summer Olympics.

“Their participation in the Olympics is a tribute to the courage and perseverance of all refugees in overcoming adversity and building a better future for themselves and their families,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.

They will take on the worlds best competing under the Olympic flag with five others – two swimmers from Syria, two judokas from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as an Ethiopian marathon runner.