Olympic Games 2016: Refugees allowed to compete in Rio Games for first time in event's history

Those unable to represent their home countries for political reasons will be able to march at the opening ceremony and compete as independent athletes

Independent athletes enter the stadium under the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony for London 2012 (Getty Images)

Refugee athletes will be allowed to compete at the Rio Games under the Olympic flag, for the first time in the event’s history.

High-quality athletes, who meet qualifying standards but who are unable to represent their home countries for political reasons, will be able to march at the opening ceremony and compete as independent athletes.

The International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach made the announcement at a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, where he asked the UN’s 193 member states to help in the search for 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.

“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.”

Independent athletes have previously competed at the Games, including four in London. Three were from the Netherlands Antilles, and Guor Marial represented South Sudan in the marathon. Neither country is a formal member of the IOC.

Athletes from recognised nations where conflict and other difficulties prevented them from representing their own countries have previously been unable to take part. Bach said they would be welcome to live in the Olympic Village alongside the other expected 11,000 athletes and play a full part in the Games.

The number of refugees worldwide continues to rise and the Syrian crisis brought the matter to unprecedented worldwide public attention. The UN estimates there are currently around 20 million displaced people in the world. More than half a million refugees and economic migrants have entered Europe this year, according to UN estimates.

It is unlikely that significant numbers of athletes, if any at all, will make their way to Rio de Janeiro from any of the world’s huge refugee camps, such as those in Jordan dealing with the Syrian crisis. But if Syrian or Iraqi nationals, or indeed anyone newly arrived in Europe and claiming asylum is able to show themselves to be elite-level athletes, president Bach said the IOC had made funds available to help.

“We are assisting high-level refugee athletes to continue their sports careers,” he said. “We help them to make their dream of sporting excellence come true, even when they have to flee from violence and hunger.”

The UN also formally adopted a resolution on the Olympic Truce, urging its member nations not to fight during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Olympic Truce has been a focus of Olympics for decades, and requires the head of each national team to sign a “peace wall” in the athletes village.

The Olympic Truce resolution was introduced by Carlos Nuzman, who is president of the organising committee of the Games, and was sponsored by 180 countries. It urges all UN member states to observe the truce from a week before the Games begin on 5 August next year, until a week after the end of the Paralympics on 18 September.

During the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, while Vladimir Putin was in the crowd, Russian tanks entered Georgian separatist regions, beginning a lengthy conflict.