For the first time in Olympic history, a team of refugees will get to compete in the upcoming games.
The International Olympic Committee handpicked 10 athletes to compete under the Olympic banner. The team of 10 includes six men and four women, who between them fled the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Syria. The refugee team, which consists of swimmers, Judo players, and short and long distance runners, will be participating in a number of events.
Here is a Quartz guide to the refugee team’s schedule.
Saturday 6 August
Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini will be the first athlete from the refugee team to compete. She will race in the women’s 100m butterfly. It was only a year ago that Mardini was swimming for her life in the Mediterranean Sea after the boat she was on stopped and threatened to capsize. Mardini jumped into the water and helped push the small dingy, carrying 20 people, to shore.
Mardini will swim in heat two at 12.28 pm eastern time.
Tuesday 9 August
Rami Anis is the second swimmer on the refugee team. He will compete in the men’s 100m freestyle. The 25-year-old Syrian was already an internationally competitive swimmer before civil war broke out. He first sought refuge in Istanbul with his family, then crossed to Greece on a small dingy. He eventually settled in Belgium after a brutal journey through Europe.
Anis will swim in heat two at 12.05 p.m. eastern time.
Wednesday 10 August
The fifth day will be a busy one for the refugee team. Yolande Bukasa Mabika, a judo player from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will be competing in the women’s 70kg. Mabika, who was born in Bukavu and sought asylum in Brazil after the war stopped her from training, will have to beat Israel’s Linda Bolder for a spot in the final 16. Mabika’s match begins at 09.35 a.m. eastern time.
Judoko Popole Misenga, who also fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sought asylum in Brazil, will compete in the men’s 90kg. Misenga will compete against India’s Avtar Singh at 09.49 a.m. eastern time
Mardini rounds up the day with the women’s 100m freestyle. She will be competing in heat one at 12:02 p.m. eastern time.
Thursday 11 August
Anis will have another chance at Olympic glory in the men’s 100m butterfly. He will be competing in heat 2 at 1.19 p.m. eastern time.
Friday 12 August
Short distance runner Yiech Pur Biel will be competing in the men’s 800m (exact time to be confirmed). Biel left South Sudan for Kenya in 2005 following the outbreak of war. He has lived and trained in Kenya since.
Saturday 13 August
James Chiengjiek had fled the war in South Sudan in 2002 and settled in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where he lived until he moved to Nairobi in 2013. Chiengjiek will be competing in the men’s 400m (exact time to be confirmed).
Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who is also a refugee from South Sudan, will be running in the women’s 1500m (exact time to be confirmed). The 21-year-old middle distance runner fled South Sudan in 2002 and had also settled in the Kakuma refugee camp.
Tuesday 16 August
Paulo Amotun, a refugee from South Sudan, will be competing in the men’s 1500m. The middle distance runner escaped the war in 2006 and had also sought sanctuary in Kakuma refugee camp.
Wednesday 17 August
23-year-old Rose Nathike Lokonyen escaped the fighting in South Sudan in 2002, fleeing to Kakuma refugee camp. She has been training in Kenya ever since. Lokonyen will be competing in women’s 800m (exact time to be confirmed).
Sunday 21 August
Track and field athlete Yonas Kinde will be competing in the men’s marathon (exact time to be confirmed). He is the oldest athlete in the refuge team. Kinde ran away from Ethiopia and sought asylum in Luxembourg in 2013.