Team Refugee

Now on BBC News, as part of a look back at big stories of 2016, we

follow the story of the team of refugee Olympic athletes.

All eyes are on Rio as the world's most elite athletes hope to make

their country is proud. And for the first time, the International

Olympic Committee have announced that there will be a new team

created for refugee athletes. We will welcome these refugee athletes

to the Olympic Games, with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic

anthem. We are all touched and moved by the magnitude of the current

worldwide refugee crisis. 43 refugees have been identified as

hopeful. Only ten will be selected. I will be following the journeys of

some of those athletes in Germany, Kenya and here in Brazil. This is

not just about winning medals, but a chance to reclaim their identity and

save their families. Through sport peace can be achieved.

Last year, Germany received almost half a million asylum applications.

But officials said at least a million people have arrived, seeking

refuge across the country, including here in Berlin. Many of them from

Syria, forced to leave because of the Civil War.

Yusra Mardini and her sister ended up in a refugee camp on the western

outskirts of Berlin last September. She inspired me from the first time.

She told me about her dream of a gold medal at the Olympics and I

said, were! Look at your best times, you did not practice for two years.

She said, I can do it and the year will give me time to practice. We

started really slow in the first weeks. Now we are on a normal level.

She has each week around about 30 hours of training and intensive

weeks, more. What is the goal for Rio? For Rio, it is a goal to be

there, to take part and to swim her personal best. That is a realistic

goal. Whilst Yusra's father is not her

official coach, he still comes to the pool every day.

Tell me how difficult it was to train in the war.

After much persuasion from his daughters, he eventually agreed to

the girls leaving Syria. Yusra was just 17 years old at the time.

In Kenya, Tegla Loroupe is putting her runners through their paces.

Most of them are refugees. She held time trials in the country's two

largest refugee camps and selected the fastest to develop them into

elite athletes. It is early morning. Rebecca and the other athletes are

preparing the training camp for an important visit by the IOC. She is

one of 30 people living here. Most of them have left their families in

the refugee camps, and have since had little contact with them. My

goal is to make sure I succeed in life so I moved my family to

somewhere they can feel safe, somewhere my siblings can go to good

school and also this running thing. I will work harder for it, maybe it

can take me somewhere. To have a refugee status is not

easy. You're a nobody. As an athlete I realise there is so much I can do

for people instead of just enjoying life. It helps that the new

president of the IOC, Thomas back, who is a friend of mine, he loves

this idea to set up this camp. She told me this is when she went to the

refugee camps, hoping that out of the hundreds of thousands of people,

she could find a handful within raw talent to turn them into top

runners. -- a handful with enough raw talent to turn them into top

runners. The IOC finally arrive with athletics Kenya to assess their

progress, and to start short listing athletes for the refugee team. They

have been in there for about two hours now in a closed meeting. We

don't know the outcome of what will happen, but everyone is just waiting

in the sun, waiting to see what happens. Whilst the meeting goes on,

Rebecca tells me about her past. I was born in a refugee camp in

Ethiopia. Later we went back home and war broke out where my dad was

killed. Where is your mum? My mum is in South Sudan. I don't know exactly

where she is. What happened when she went away and I was with my

grandmother and siblings. We run away together so we don't know where

she is. Was that hard leaving her? It was really hard and as for some

years back we thought she was actually dead.

Rebecca was one of 4 million people forced to flee because of the

Sudanese conflict. She has been living here in the largest refugee

camp in the world. The majority of the refugees are from Somalia and

with South Sudanese, we are the minority and most of us are

Christian, so we are really facing challenges due to the religious

differences and also the Al-Shabab. It is really horrible for us.

Sometimes, a lot of bombing and sometimes they will come and

threaten our people in the community, especially when you have

a shop. Many ladies from refugee camps, they end up giving up on

life. Every time we wake up we think we have to thank god, at least we

have seen a new day. It is the day after the IOC visit

and Rebecca and the others are training hard. They have been told

that as it stands, no one's running times are good enough to qualify for

the refugee team and they have a week to resubmit new ones. Rebecca

must shave four seconds off her personal best if she is to qualify.

Qualification, we are struggling for them to qualify, but the last group

to be selected will be the best to go to Rio. These people, if they

were in their countryside training, they could run better. We are not

going to Rio to run for medals, we're going to Rio to show that

through sports, peace can be achieved. With the help of a

scholarship given by the International Olympics committee,

Yusra Mardini is able to swim and go to an elite sports school based at

the Olympic Park. Her English and German have improved, and she is

ever more determined to make it onto the refugee team. It is Sunday. A

rare day off from training. After my mum had three

German lessons with her, and she said she is the same age,

you want to meet with her. We had a hamburger and since

then we were friends. What did you think of each

other when you first met? I thought she is crazy

and I would have a lot of fun. For the short time she

is learning German... Sometimes it is hard

to pronounce some words. Yusra is settled in Germany

but she misses Syria. Yusra told me the engine had

stopped and the overcrowded So she and her sister had

to get out and swim, whilst others bailed water

from the boat. After three hours in the water,

Yusra and the others made From Greece they made their way

like the thousands before It took them 25 days

to get to Germany. In Brazil, Yolande Mabika

and Popole Misenga are within They are refugees living

and training in Rio de Janeiro. They both came from one

of the areas worst affected When they came to Rio in 2013

for the World Judo Championships, they escaped from the team and made

a bid for asylum. A local charity stepped

in to help them continue But their coaches

are among the best. One of the biggest challenges

was having to change That was the last day

Yolande saw her family. She does not even know

if they are still alive. He is the stepfather

to his wife's three children. Make it onto the refugee team and,

perhaps, their families back home With just weeks to go,

training has intensified. She does on average 240 lengths

per day, including one hour in the gym on top

of homework and school. It is quite great coming here

to watch Yusra train because now, when I see her like everyone else,

on the TV, I think I will feel proud watching what she has achieved

and how far she has come. For the past seven months, the IOC

has been following the progress of 43 refugee athletes

around the world. Like Yusra, they have all somehow

overcome huge personal adversity Now, ten will go to Rio to represent

the 59 million people who have been They have qualified

for the Olympic Games. She remained four seconds short

of the qualifying time. But five runners from the Kenya

group have been selected. And their coach has been

chosen to lead the Team Good morning. We've had a lot of

frost