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STORY: GREECE / SYRIA OLYMPIC TORCH RUNNER
TRT: 01:34
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR
LANGUAGE: GREEK / NATS
DATELINE: 26 APRIL 2016, ATHENS / GREECE
1. Pan left, Ibrahim carrying the torch
2. Med shot, Ibrahim and former water polo player Spyros Capralos
3. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Syrian Refugee:
“Big honour. Big honour. This isn’t a game to me. It’s an honour. It wasn’t easy. Inside my heart, I feel so happy, so happy. Today I made it. What more can I say? I don’t know.”
4. Tilt down, from torch relay to Ibrahim and Capralos
5. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Syrian Refugee:
“I hope all refugees, not just from Syria, but from Iraq, Afghanistan, from Syria, that came to Europe, who were athletes before, that they will join other sport teams wherever they are. Hopefully, I hope that they don’t just sit inside the camp.”
6. Various shots, Ibrahim walking with flame surrounded by media
The Olympic flame for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, which was lit last week in Olympia, Greece, will be carried by some 450 people on its journey across Greece, amongst them a Syrian refugee.
Ibrahim Al-Hussein was chosen to walk with the Olympic torch through the Eleonas Accommodation site in western Athens, where 1,500 refugees and migrants are being hosted. The 27-year-old athlete, who had part of his right leg amputated after a bombing in Syria, braved the sea crossing to Greece on a rubber dinghy and was granted asylum in 2014.
SOUNDBITE (Greek) Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Syrian Refugee:
“Big honour. Big honour. This isn’t a game to me. It’s an honour. It wasn’t easy. Inside my heart, I feel so happy, so happy. Today I made it. What more can I say? I don’t know.”
The Rio Olympics will see a team of refugee athletes from various countries, compete under the Olympic flag, an Olympic first. This symbolic move is meant to express solidarity with the plight of the world’s refugees.
SOUNDBITE (Greek) Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Syrian Refugee:
“I hope all refugees, not just from Syria, but from Iraq, Afghanistan, from Syria, that came to Europe, who were athletes before, that they will join other sport teams wherever they are. Hopefully, I hope that they don’t just sit inside the camp.”
Rio will be remembered as the Olympics that gave refugee athletes a chance to compete and maybe fulfill their dreams.
