The International Olympic Committee's Refugee Team for the 2024 Paris Olympics will include two track and field athletes living and training in Israel.
Tachlowini (Louis) Gabriyesos and Jamal Abdelmaji, who led the IOC Refugee Team to achievements in Tokyo 2020, have been selected for the Refugee Olympic Team for the Paris 2024 Games.
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Tachlowini (Louis) Gabriyesos and Jamal Abdelmaji
(Photo: Olympic Committee of Israel)
Gabriyesos, from Eritrea, will compete in the marathon, while Abdelmaji, from Sudan, will compete in the 5,000 meters. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Gabriyesos carried the delegation's flag at the opening ceremony and finished 16th in the marathon with a time of 2:14:02 hours.
During preparations for Paris 2024, he improved his personal best, which currently stands at 2:09:00 hours, a time he achieved at the Seville Marathon in 2023. In the 5,000 meters, Abdelmaji delivered a fantastic performance in the preliminaries, shaving 12 seconds off his personal best with a time of 13:42.98 and ranking 23rd.
Since then, he has made significant progress, gaining a wealth of experience in elite international competitions. He set personal records in the 10,000 meters with a time of 28:09 minutes and achieved an impressive result (9th place) at the 2023 European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.