The delegation of the refugee olympic team parade into Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Ga) |
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The first ever Olympic refugee team became the spotlight in the Rio Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
The team was the penultimate one to enter the Maracana Stadium, just before host Brazil.
Rose Nathike Lokonyen, an 800m runner who fled the war in South Sudan and arrived at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya in 2002, carried the Olympic flag for this special squad.
The team includes five runners from South Sudan, two swimmers from Syria, two judokas from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a marathon runner from Ethiopia.
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