Refugee Teens Chase Olympic Dream in Dakar

Florence Masumbe and Rachid Rochene fled instability in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Now they’re preparing to represent the Refugee Olympic Team at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the event’s first edition to feature refugee athletes. The Games run from 31 October to 13 November in Senegal’s capital, and the two teenage sprinters are among six refugee athletes selected to compete.

For young people who’ve spent years far from home, running on an international stage carries weight that’s hard to overstate. Rochene put it simply: “I feel good, I feel so wonderful. You know, this was a dream since I was young. I wanted to compete with people, to see how I can also do, to also achieve medals. You know, why not also a world record.”

Two Lives, Two Settings

Masumbe is 16. She has spent much of her life in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement, in a predominantly rural area of south-western Uganda. Rochene lives in an urban part of the country. Their circumstances differ, but both arrive in Dakar hoping athletics can change what comes next.

Masumbe was clear about her expectations. “I was so happy to have been selected to go to Dakar. I know if I continue with athletics, it will transform my life and I can get a good school. My family members will also have better opportunities, and even other refugee children will be inspired,” she said.

Public Investment Behind the Podium

Their selection didn’t happen by accident. It follows years of work by the Olympic Refuge Foundation and its partners in Uganda, who’ve used sport to support displaced people and host communities alike. The partners identified the athletes’ talents through Game Connect, a six-year initiative designed to improve mental health and wellbeing through sport.

Brandon Katura, the initiative’s coordinator, described the change he’s seen. “Seven months or a year ago, they were probably running for fun, or they came out for trials just to do it as a way of passing time because they were free,” he said. “Now you find that they are excited, they are looking forward to travelling. They are looking forward to competing with people from other countries. They want to get scholarships for school.”

The International Olympic Committee and its partners in Uganda contributed nearly $10,000 over the past year to prepare Masumbe and Rochene. That money covered work to help them pursue their sporting ambitions. It’s a modest sum beside the obstacles the report identifies. Refugee athletes face real challenges accessing training, education and the resources needed to compete internationally.

A Decade of Inclusion

For the past decade, the IOC has promoted the inclusion of displaced athletes through the Refugee Olympic Team, enabling people forced to flee their homes to compete on the world stage. Dakar extends that work to a younger generation. Masumbe and Rochene are focused on their performances on the track. Their presence also shows what sport can do beyond the scoreboard: restore confidence and open doors for young refugees who might otherwise struggle to imagine a future past displacement.

The need is vast. The United Nations refugee agency says nearly 118 million people worldwide are forcibly displaced. Each person has a story, and many have children who’ve lost years of schooling, stability and access to the programs that build a life.

Why This Matters: The Dakar Games will mark a first for refugee athletes at the Youth Olympic level, and the teenagers selected come from a group often left out of public investment in sport and education. The gap between what these young people can achieve and what they’re given to work with is the story here. Game Connect and the roughly $10,000 spent preparing two athletes show that targeted, collective support can make a measurable difference. Whether that support reaches more displaced young people, and whether the access barriers the report describes come down, will determine if this moment becomes a pattern or remains an exception. For a generation that’s already lost so much to instability, the question is whether institutions will commit the resources needed to let them compete on equal footing.