Athens, January 29, 2016 – The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach is in Athens to visit the Open Reception Centre for refugees in Elaionas, Athens. President Bach is accompanied by a Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport appointed by the United Nations Secretary and Honorary IOC President Jacques Rogge.
EOC President Patrick Hickey, IOC Executive Board Member and Pere Miro, Deputy Director General for Olympic Movement relations are also present as part of the IOC delegation. Spyros Capralos President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) and the Mayor Lesvos, Spyros Galinos are also on hand in Athens to assist with the visit.
The HOC Refugee Support Programme recently built four basketball courts in the largest refugee camp in Athens, which houses between 750 and 1000 refugees at any given time. The IOC have also supplied sports equipment, jackets and 600 pairs of running shoes in partnership with TOP Sponsors P&G of Greece personal hygiene kits will also be provided.
As well as assisting the refugee camp in light of the current global refugee crisis, IOC has created a special fund to develop relief projects through sport in collaboration with National Olympic Committees (NOCs) around the world and the Olympic Council of Ireland will take part in this project.
With the help of the NOCs, the IOC is in the process of identifying a number of athletes affected by the worldwide refugee crisis, to try help these individuals to take part in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016. A trio of athletes who have fled their home countries have already been identified as potential Olympic contenders including a female swimmer from Syria presently in Germany and a male Congolese judoka in Brazil and a female Iranian taekwondo fighter now in Belgium. In cooperation with the relevant International Federation (IFs) the IOC is now evaluating these athletes.