"We arrived in Paris on 15th July and then took a 4-hour bus ride to the city of Bayeux, a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.
We are staying in the city and will head to the Olympic Village on 18th July.
Our arrival in Paris was fantastic. The team is in high spirits, experiencing an amazing feeling. Personally, I felt a great sense of pride seeing all the team members from different disciplines being united. Among all of them, the unity among the judo refugee Olympic team is exemplary.
I can say that the team feels good. I think all refugee team members feel a sense of unity but the judo team feels like a complete team. Everyone talks about our cohesion and commitment. We feel like a family thanks to the judo community’s support.
People here talk about my people, saying they can see we are genuinely a team and that we are committed, which they don’t see so strongly in other disciplines. It fills me with pride and happiness, knowing I managed to bring everyone together.
For the moment, according to our schedule, we have two training sessions per day: one judo session and one fitness session.
The atmosphere with other refugee athletes is good. Since we are all away from our families, being together lifts everyone’s spirits. One great initiative was to bring all refugee teams together before their competitions, boosting morale.
We have been training day and night for almost three years now, eagerly awaiting these extraordinary days, the Olympics. The feeling now is amazing. We are full of pride as we get closer to our dream. Achieving our dreams demonstrates the power of will and we, the refugees, want to show the world that we represent millions of refugees and that they are not alone.
I would like to express my gratitude for all the support from the International Judo Federation, especially Mr Marius Vizer, who has enabled these athletes to be strong and spirited as a team in the Olympics. This feeling is incredible and I want to thank everyone for doing their best for us."
Proud, Vahid and his team members can be. On 26th July and on the following days, they will compete as any other athlete qualified for the Games. They will have equal chances to shine on the Olympic scene both in the individual competition and during the mixed team event. There will always be something special about them though, because life was difficult at one point. Nevertheless, they never abandoned hope. Today they show that everything is possible."