Team Refugees, the Olympic Games' first ever team of refugee athletes, received a standing ovation as they entered the stadium during the game's opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The 10 athletes of Team Refugees were the second-to-last Olympic team to walk into Rio's Maracaña Stadium as part of the time-honored parade of nations, followed by the host country's team, Brazil.
The internet was flooded by Tweets of pride and support under the hashtags: #NoHome #NoFlag #NoAnthem #TeamRefugees
Earlier in the evening, U.S. President Barack Obama tweeted a supportive message to Team Refugees:
Team Refugees walked behind the Olympic flag since conflict has driven them from their home countries. The flag was carried by Rose Nathike Lokonyen, a runner from South Sudan.Tonight, the first-ever #TeamRefugees will also stand before the world and prove that you can succeed no matter where you're from.— President Obama (@POTUS) August 5, 2016
The stadium was filled with roaching cheers, standing ovations and applauses as the athletes paraded, smiling and waving at the crowd. Among the spotted significant audiences was United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon who was seen applauding enthusiastically in the stands.
Team Refugees consists of five runners originally from South Sudan; one runner originally from Ethiopia; two judokas originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and two swimmers originally from Syria. All of them now live outside their home countries.
Yusra Mardini, 18, a swimmer from Damascus, Syria and is now living in Germany, said that she owes her life to her athletic skills. It helped her save herself, her sister and a group of 18 other Syrian refugees.
The refugees were on a dinghy from Turkey to Greece when the engine died. Mardini and her sister, who is also a swimmer, pulled the boat to the Greek island of Lesbos over the course of three and a half hours.
This is the first year the Olympics will feature a team of refugee athletes, which only shows the world is currently in the grips of the worst refugee crisis since World War II, with 65 million people fleeing from their homes.
Source: The Huffington Post ABC
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