Fernando Dayán Jorge Enriquez, a Cuban refugee and canoeist who now calls Florida his home, is among 37 athletes set to compete at the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team. “The team was created for the Rio Olympics in 2016 as a symbol of hope and to call attention to the plight of refugees worldwide,” the AP reported. “The refugee athletes will compete in 12 sports, but for many, their journey to Paris is already a victory in itself.”
Jorge Enriquez is already an Olympic gold medalist, as part of Cuba’s national team at the Tokyo games in 2020. But the following year, he defected from his home country while training in Mexico, citing “political differences” over how the Cuban government “treats citizens and athletes,” the AP said:
He left behind his home and crossed into the United States via the Rio Grande, in hopes of a better — if uncertain — life.
Arriving to Florida was, in some ways, like starting from scratch. Granted refugee status in the U.S., Jorge said he would wake up hours before sunrise to train, then work eight hours in a maintenance gig to pay his bills.
He said he watched friends forced to give up everything after migrating, but he fought to continue as a professional athlete.
While he’s now a part of the 2024 IOC Refugee Olympic Team and has been working to build a new life for himself in the U.S., it hasn’t meant that his challenges are over. His former home country protested his membership on the refugee team, basically claiming his reasons for leaving were not legitimate. Cuba then also demanded his expulsion from the games entirely. Jorge Enriquez, however, will still compete, and his message remains one of continued perseverance and hope.
“To the refugees and athletes who’ve been through the same thing, I want to tell them to not give up,” he told the AP. “No matter how dark the days become, the sun is always going to rise.” Watch Jorge Enriquez’s interview with WPTV’s Janny Rodriguez below:
“The IOC Refugee Olympic Team represents more than 100 million forcibly displaced people worldwide,” the Olympic Refuge Foundation said. “Made up of 37 athletes, hosted by 15 National Olympic Committees and competing across 12 sports, the team demonstrates to the world that refugees are an enrichment to the society.”
Two of Jorge Enriquez’s teammates, Cameroon-born boxer Cindy Ngamba and Syria-born taekwondo athlete Yahya Al Ghotany, will have the distinct honor of being flag bearers at the opening ceremony. “They will be the second team – after Greece – to go down the river Seine in a ceremony like no other, watched on by tens of thousands on the riverbanks and millions around the world,” Olympic.com said.
They will hopefully receive the same resounding reaction following the first refugee Olympians at the Rio games in 2016. The team of ten refugees — selected from a pool of nearly 1,000 athletes from Syria, South Sudan, and other troubled regions of the world — marched into Maracanã Stadium following host nation Brazil to deafening cheers, we noted at the time.
Among the 10 athletes was Yusra Mardini, who along with her sister, saved the lives of 20 fellow Syrians when their boat was in danger of capsizing. “When their crammed dinghy broke down between Turkey and Greece, she and her sister, also a swimmer, jumped into the water and helped guide the boat to safety,” The New York Times reported in 2016.
“As a team, we are a very diverse group – with many different cultures, languages and stories – but here you can see that we are really a united team and we are all connected,” said Masomah Ali Zada, Chef de Mission for the 2024 Refugee Olympic Team. “We aim to carry this spirit and this togetherness with us to Paris, where we will introduce this unique team to the world at the Opening Ceremony.” The opening ceremony is scheduled for July 26 – good luck to all the competitors.