South Sudanese refugee Yiech Pur Biel, who competed barefoot in the 800 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team, will make history again as Chef de Mission for the first refugee delegation at the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal. The opening ceremony on Saturday marks the first Olympic sporting event held on African soil.
Biel fled his village in South Sudan as a child and grew up in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. He discovered running during International Olympic Committee trials at the camp, an experience that gave him belief in his own potential. Now, a decade after his Rio debut, he leads a team of six athletes who aim to highlight the plight of the nearly 45 million displaced people in Africa, out of almost 120 million worldwide.
Among the athletes is 15-year-old judoka Arno Yafunga Botay, who also lived in Kakuma after fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017. Botay has promised to bring back a gold medal to inspire other young refugees. Biel says his role is an honour and a chance to pass on his experience to the next generation, showing that refugees can represent hope and resilience on the world stage.
