An effort to promote sports for refugees on the island of Lesvos and in other areas of Greece is gathering pace following the visit of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) to the Eastern Aegean island. A delegation from the HOC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) visited Lesvos to host a special sailing event on Sunday and visit a stadium which has been rebuilt and is now used by refugees for sports activities.
Greece's Olympic sailing medalists at the Rio Olympics, Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis, gave a demonstration during the visit by the IOC and the HOC. The mission led by Mario Pescante, the IOC's permanent observer at the United Nations, visited the open refugee camp at Kara Tepe and distributed sports equipment to migrant children.
"From the first moment that the refugee crisis broke out, the IOC president Thomas Bach has been taking initiatives because the Olympic movement is very aware of the role that sport can play in helping to bring people together in such difficult times," said the HOC president Spyros Kapralos.
Stadium used to promote sports program for refugees
The delegates also visited the renovated stadium in Moria which was co-funded with the Municipality of Lesbos and is used for sports programs involving refugees and the coaching of local athletes. "We are pleased and very lucky that the IOC is represented in Lesvos by its former vice-president, Mario Pescante, who today has the important role of IOC's permanent observer at the United Nations," added Kapralos. "Being Italian, Mr. Pescante is well aware of the refugee crisis and how it is affecting countries like Italy and Greece."
"In cooperation with the Municipality of Lesvos and the Mayor Spyros Galinos, we will discuss the possibility for Greece and Italy to develop more programmes with the participation of the IOC and the newly founded Olympic Refugee Foundation, which will contribute to the relief of the impact of the crisis on both refugees and local communities."
Refugee Olympic movement
The visit comes just a couple of weeks after the establishment of the Olympic Refugee Foundation, which was announced at the recent IOC session in Lima, Peru between September 13-16. This new foundation, which was launched almost a year after the first-ever Refugee Olympic team took part in the Rio games last summer, is a project coordinated with the help of the UN. It is aimed at creating sports structures and programmes in areas where there are refugee populations.There are over 60,000 refugees staying in Greece in total, with an estimated 6,000 of them currently on Lesvos currently following a recent worrying spike in arrivals.