FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gabriyesos to lead six-member Athlete Refugee Team
for World Athletics Championships Oregon22
Tokyo Olympian Tachlowini Gabriyesos will lead a six-member Athlete Refugee
Team (ART) to next month's World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Gabriyesos, 24, made waves one year ago when he finished 16th in the
Olympic marathon in Sapporo, beating some of the world's best marathoners.
"It makes me so proud to once again wear the Athlete Refugee Team vest at
the World Championships," said Gabriyesos, a native of Eritrea who made his
Athlete Refugee Team debut at the 2019 World Championships in Doha where he
competed in the 5000m. "I don't represent a country, but millions of people
without one. I want to be a role model for refugee youth around the world
and wish to show the world once again that refugees can be strong, that we
are hungry for success and that we deserve equal opportunities."
Gabriyesos fled conflict and bloodshed in Eritrea at age 12 and journeyed
through Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt before crossing the Sinai desert on foot
to Israel where he's been living since 2010. He began running soon after
and eventually found that he was best suited for athletics' longest running
event.
At the Hahula Galilee Marathon in Israel in March 2021, Gabriyesos clocked
2:10:55 to become the first refugee athlete to meet an Olympic qualifying
standard. He later served as the co-flag bearer for the Olympic Refugee
Team at Tokyo's Opening Ceremonies. After his solid performance in
Sapporo's hot and muggy conditions, Gabriyesos improved to 2:10:09 at the
Seville Marathon in February.
After its involvement with the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team that competed
at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, World Athletics established the Athlete
Refugee Team in 2017 to provide refugees with high level training and
competitive opportunities. It is the world's only year-round team composed
solely of refugee athletes. The team has been represented at almost every
World Championship event since, in addition to a growing number of
continental and regional events, most recently the European 10,000m Cup in
May and the African Championships earlier this month.
"On this World Refugee Day, our Athlete Refugee Team brings a powerful and
inspirational message of hope and solidarity to the world, at a time when
it's truly needed," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. "They're
also showing, through their rapid development and world class performances,
that they do belong among the world's best athletes."
Representing a community of 89 million
When the refugee team was introduced at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, that
squad of 10 – six competing in athletics – represented 65 million people
around the world who had been forcibly displaced from their homes. That
figure soared to more than 82 million by 2020 and, propelled by conflict,
the climate crisis and skyrocketing inequality, has grown to 89.3 million
at the end of 2021. The six athletes who are set to compete in Eugene next
month will represent a community that collectively would be the 17th most
populous country on the planet.
Similarly, the number of athletes involved in the World Athletics Athlete
Refugee Team project continues to grow. More than 40 athletes are now
involved in the programme, training at their respective bases in Kenya,
Israel, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Canada and Portugal.
Gabriyesos will be joined by Jamal Abdalmajid Eisa-Mohammed, a native of
Sudan, who will make his second consecutive World Championships appearance
in the 5000m. The 28-year-old improved his lifetime best over the distance
to 13:42.98 at the Olympic Games last year.
Dorian Keletela, 23, will be making his third ART appearance after outings
at the 2021 European Indoor Championships and last summer's Olympic Games
in Tokyo. In the Japanese capital, he clocked 10.33 to win his 100m heat in
the preliminary round, smashing his previous career best by 0.13. He
improved to 10.27 last year and at the moment has a 10.47 season's best.
Fouad Idbafdil, a refugee from Morocco who is based in France, rounds out
the men's squad. The 34-year-old steeplechase specialist improved his
lifetime best to 8:37.94 nine days ago. He too competed on the ART squad in
Doha in 2019.
The women's team is led by Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who will bring plenty
of experience to the start line of the 1500m. The 27-year-old native of
South Sudan, who is based at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation training
camp in Ngong, Kenya, will be making her second World Championships
appearance after her debut in 2017. Nadai is a two-time Olympian and most
recently competed at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March
and the African Championships in Mauritius 11 days ago. She set her 4:31.65
lifetime best in Tokyo last year.
She'll be joined by Atalena Napule Gaspore, another South Sudanese athlete
from the Loroupe camp, who will be making her Athlete Refugee Team debut
competing in the 800m.
World Athletics
Athlete refugee team for WCH Oregon22
WOMEN
800m: Atalena Napule Gaspore
1500m: Anjelina Nadai Lohalith
MEN
100m: Dorian Keletela
5000m: Jamal Abdalmajid Eisa-Mohammed
Marathon: Tachlowini Gabriyesos
3000m steeplechase: Fouad Idbafdil
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