Cuban Olympic Committee Demands Athlete's Exclusion from Refugee Team

The Cuban Olympic Committee has called for the immediate exclusion of a Cuban athlete, Fernando Dayán Jorge, from the Refugee Olympic Team set to compete in the Paris 2024 Games. The government claims that the athletes emigrated willingly and were not persecuted, a violation of the team’s intended purpose.

The Cuban Olympic Committee has called for the immediate exclusion of an athlete from its island who was selected for the Refugee Olympic Team competing in the Paris 2024 Games.

In May, the International Olympic Committee announced that 37 athletes from 11 countries would participate in the Refugee Olympic Team, a symbol of hope that started in the Rio 2016 Olympics. This year marks the first time Cuban athletes have joined: Fernando Dayán Jorge, a canoeist who won gold at Tokyo 2020, and weightlifter Ramiro Mora.

The Cuban government has opposed their inclusion since May, arguing that the athletes willingly emigrated and were not persecuted or uprooted. The Cuban Olympic Committee's statement Tuesday emphasized the point, saying one athlete made disrespectful political comments against his homeland. The athlete in question, canoeist Dayán Jorge, relocated to the United States.

The COC insists on the immediate removal of the athlete from the Paris 2024 Games, asserting that none of the Cuban athletes meet the criteria of being refugees persecuted by war.

(With inputs from agencies.)