Refugee team draws loud applause from Rio crowd
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Heartwrenching story of the Refugee Olympic Team flag bearer
An intimate look behind the scenes on a Visa commercial shoot with Team Olympic Refugee swimmer Yusra Mardini.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Save for the home team, the crowd at Maracana Stadium reserved its loudest cheers for a team meant to inspire all — the Refugee Olympic team.
Introduced before Brazil wrapped up the Parade of Nations, the refugee team drew the second loudest applause of the night — even outpacing the Americans.
The International Olympic Committee announced that it would field a team under its own flag earlier this year, and it announced a 10-person team in June.
The team of six men and four women fled their home countries — Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo.
They are swimmers. They are runners. They are judokas.
And on Friday, as they were embraced by the raucous crowd here, they represented the hope in all of us.