Athletes in 1500m action in Kampala (© Darren Allan Kyeyune)
Twelve U18 athletes have been selected for the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team and will be candidates for the 2026 Youth Refugee Olympic Team following a trial event held earlier this month in Kampala.
Nine years after the first refugee team programme was established in Kenya, the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) and World Athletics jointly extended the initiative to neighbouring Uganda in collaboration with the National Olympic Committee (NOC), Uganda Athletics and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The selected athletes – including sprinters Alini Asinati and Moise Kalume, and middle-distance runners Evaline Baako and Emanuel Dhegbo – will form part of a pool from which the first Youth Refugee Olympic Team will be selected for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, taking place from 30 October to 15 November. The selection of these 12 U18 athletes is in addition to those on the World Athletics U20 Athlete Refugee Team, based in Kenya.
Assembled for the final trials on a sunny day at the Mandela National Stadium in Namboole were 90 pre-selected refugee athletes from four settlements: Adjumani, Rwamwanja, Kyangwali and Kampala. Coordination with the settlements was managed by Lydia Murungi Tomusange, programme manager of the Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI), an Italian civil society organisation in Uganda.
“For a long time, we wanted to include an individual sport, and athletics seemed like the most possible opportunity for us to include,” said Tomusange.
Evaline Baako (5) and Nebaeda Opumo (42) contest the 1500m in Kampala (© Uganda Olympic Committee)
For the refugee athletes, it was their first time competing in a large stadium and using starting blocks. Many expressed their passion for running and the hope that they can help their families live better lives.
Representing the national government at the finals was Milton Chebet, Assistant General Secretary – Technical, National Council of Sports. He was accompanied by Dr Donald Rukare, President of the Uganda Olympic Committee; Dominic Otucet, President of Uganda Athletics; and Beatrice Ayikoru, World Athletics Council Member, Secretary General of the Uganda Olympic Committee and General Secretary of Uganda Athletics. Jackson Tuwei, President of Athletics Kenya who is also a World Athletics Vice President, travelled across the border to grace the occasion, which could be seen as a ‘passing of the baton’ and an opportunity for Athletics Kenya to share its experience. The ORF was represented by Gonzalo Barrio, Olympic Refugee Team Manager, and Alice Annibali, World Athletics Community Relations and Public Affairs Manager.
“This is a historic day because for the very first time, we have a refugees' trial here in the national stadium,” said Otucet. “I had always asked our NOC (Uganda Olympic Committee) to include athletics in the refugee programme, because the refugee programmes in Uganda had started long ago, but they were only for other sports. I am glad that our NOC agreed to include athletics. I am very excited, today I am the happiest person here.”
Impressed by the talent on show at Namboole, Tuwei said: “Sport is for all of us and so we don't want to leave anybody out, particularly those who are talented and do not normally have a chance to do that”.
Barrio added: “Everybody runs, everybody knows how to run, and so it is also a sport that refugee athletes, who sometimes live in challenging situations, can practice. And this is why we are focusing on this event because it is also the first trials that we have organised in Uganda.”
Uganda’s open-door policy has enabled the East African country to host almost 2 million people who were displaced or stateless as of the end of 2024, according to the UNHCR. The majority of the refugees in Uganda are from Sudan and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda required $361 million per year for its refugee programmes, but in 2025 it was operating with less than 40% of that amount due to a significant reduction in international aid.
“Athletics is one of the leading sports that has opened its doors to refugee athletes at the elite level,” said Annibali. “We select some of them to compete in our events around the globe, assist them in entering international competitions and treat them just like any other elite athlete.
“This year, we have intensified our safeguarding awareness campaigns to educate refugee athletes about the World Athletics Safeguarding Policy. We want them to feel free to express themselves so that we can better understand their needs and provide the necessary support for the betterment of their well-being and the success of the programme. So, we look forward to extending these opportunities to this select group of refugee athletes based in Uganda. And I am grateful to the Olympic Refuge Foundation for this unique collaboration and unswerving support for the refugee programme in athletics – we complement each other.”
Athletes warm up at the Mandela National Stadium in Namboole (© Darren Allan Kyeyune)
The Refugee Athletes' Programme was established in 2016 by the International Olympic Committee and the UNHCR for athletes displaced by war and persecution, providing them with an opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games. Kenya, through the Kakuma Refugee Camp, contributed the most significant share of competitors to the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team (EOR) at the Rio 2016 Games.
The young refugee athletes in Uganda do not need to look far for inspiration. Ayikoru was a long-distance runner and, before that, a refugee who fled her country with her family to neighbouring Congo for nearly two years due to civil war. The team’s athletes will also learn much from marathon great Eliud Kipchoge, who will continue his role as the official mentor for the refugee team in 2026.
“It is because of past experience where I realised the impact of my interaction with the refugee athletes,” he said. “I want to show them the way forward. We are fighting with their minds because refugees are equal to us, and they need to believe it.”
Darren Allan Kyeyune for World Athletics
U18 athlete refugee squad in Uganda
Women
100m: Alini Asinati (COD)
200m: Alini Ntakirutimana (COD)
400m: Amida Maburuka (SSD)
800m: Flavia Atayo (SSD), Florence Masumbe (COD)
1500m: Evaline Baako (SSD)
Men
100m: Emmanuel Talipanaw (COD)
200m: Moise Kalume (COD)
400m: Bhut Mariel (SSD)
800m: Rachid Rochene (COD)
1500m: Emanuel Dhegbo (COD)
3000m: Lole Clement (SSD)