Refugee athletes want more people to compete at the Paris Olympics

The first time Perina Lokure Nakang began to run for sport, she ran 9 miles (14 kilometers) along the road near her refugee camp in northwestern Kenya.

Now, the 21-year-old South Sudanese runner is competing in the Paris Olympics, among many of the 37 athletes on the Olympic refugee team who are pushing to see more refugees like her able to compete in the Games.

I told myself if I continue running this, it is going to change my life, she said. In the Olympics, everyone is looking to me to represent them.

They are getting support from former refugee Olympians and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that the team is a symbol of inclusion, of equality, of achievement for a large community around the world of refugees and displaced people."

The Olympic refugee team was born at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, a collaboration between the International Olympic Committee and UNHCR, with just 10 athletes from four ...