Refugee Olympic Team Chef de Mission Masomah Ali Zada highlights the importance of access to sport for displaced people in Paris and beyond

Ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the Olympic Refuge Foundation is working through its Terrains d’Avenir programme to remove barriers to accessing sport and sporting spaces in the French capital. This year, World Refugee Day focuses on solidarity and solutions for displaced people, and as a programme, Terrains d’Avenir aims to welcome displaced people into the local sporting community, while providing a solution to support them in building their new lives.

Speaking from a sports centre in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, not far from the Olympic Village, she said: “Playing handball with these women once again reminded me of the impact sport can have when you arrive in a new country as a refugee. It allows you to integrate into a new community; it gives you hope. Most importantly, it’s a tool for you to navigate some of the challenges of being a refugee - it’s a space where you can forget and play.”

She said: “I met a woman from Sri Lanka called Cindy, which really touched me. She is 66 years old and comes to play handball with these women every week. It has been an incredible way for her to integrate, talk French, socialise and do sports. I could see how much it meant to her in her eyes; she would stay even after the session and watch others. After 66 years, it was her connection with this new society she came into. For me that's what sport can do for the refugee community.”

As Chef de Mission, Masomah is the face of the Refugee Olympic Team – representing not only the 36 athletes who will take to the field of play at the Olympic Games in Paris, but also more than 120 million displaced people around the world.

“For me, the Refugee Olympic Team is about giving refugees access to elite level sport. But it’s also important for me to be here at this handball session, because we need to do more to give refugees access to sport at all levels. By welcoming them into our sporting communities, we give them a vital tool for hope, and motivate them to keep going.”

The women-only handball session is one of more than 30 weekly sport sessions delivered through the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF)’s Terrains d’Avenir programme. The sessions are free and open to all.

The initiative uses a diverse offering of sports - including climbing, basketball, running, taekwondo, boxing and dance - to support the inclusion of displaced young people in their host communities in Paris and the wider Île-de-France region. Though spread across Paris, the programme focuses on the north-eastern part of the city – the epicentre of the Paris 2024 Games – where there is a high concentration of displaced people, and where barriers to sport are particularly high.

Changing the way sport is accessed

Jeroen Carrin, the ORF’s Senior Programmes Manager, said: “This initiative has been a game-changer in Paris. As Terrains d’Avenir builds its legacy in the sport for refugee space, our partners are working hard to create lasting changes in terms of how and how frequently asylum seekers and refugees access sport in Greater Paris. This year, we’re particularly focused on boosting female participation by creating women-only sessions, and enhancing coaches’ expertise in working with young people with forced migration backgrounds.”

The programme started with the ORF recognising that, even in high-income countries like France and world-renowned cities like Paris, there are barriers to accessing sport for young people, and more specifically for people who have been forcibly displaced. These barriers are not specific to France or Paris, but with the Olympic Games Paris 2024 approaching and financial support through the French Ministry of Sport and Olympic and Paralympic Games, there was a great opportunity to leverage the attention that will be on the city and the Games, and use it to remove some of these barriers, and shape a movement that ensures all young people affected by displacement can access and enjoy sport.

Jeroen added: “The goal is clear: to change the way sport is accessed and to create a lasting legacy of Terrains d’Avenir – not just here in Paris, but around the world.”

Terrains d’Avenir is ensuring its long-term impact by training 200 professionals in the safe and supportive sport approach. The programme has so far supported 6,500 young people through access to sport sessions in north-eastern Paris and Île-de-France, where much of the Olympic Games will be happening, but also where there is the greatest need for young people affected by displacement to access safe sport.

Started by the ORF and the French Ministry of Sport, the initiative benefits from the expertise of a consortium of six delivery partners; Emmaüs Solidarité, Futbol Mas France, Kabubu, Ovale Citoyen, PLAY International and Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, and key supporters including the Ville de Paris, UNHCR, French National Olympic Committee and Paris 2024.

Representing refugees throughout Paris

Today, Masomah will attend the Réfugiés : solidarité et responsabilités conference, where she will speak alongside Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and once again call on the audience to consider how to improve access to sport for refugees and displaced people. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi delivered a video message to the those in attendance.

Masomah will also visit the “Sport and Refugees” photo exhibition, which is a collaboration between the Ville de Paris, UNHCR and the ORF being launched today, and which will be on display throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Having fled her home country, Masomah Ali Zada was part of the Afghanistan women’s cycling team. She competed for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team in the Tokyo 2020 time trial event, and became a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission in 2022.