Al-Ghoutani, a Syrian who trains at the THF's flagship academy at the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, has been handed an athlete scholarship by the IOC to help him train towards the Games in the French capital.

If successful, he would become part of the Refugee Olympic Team at Paris 2024.

Bach, also the chairman of the Olympic Refuge Foundation, met with Al-Ghoutani while visiting Jordan.

The pair visited the country's Olympic Preparation Centre alongside other athletes, including the THF's Wael Fawaz Al-Farraj, who also has a scholarship for Paris.

"We are delighted that Yahya has been awarded this IOC scholarship," said Chungwon Choue, the President of World Taekwondo and the chairman of the THF.

"We are thankful to the Olympic Refuge Foundation and Olympic Solidarity for the support they are providing Yahya and our other taekwondo refugee athletes as they pursue their Olympic dreams. 

"We hope they can all qualify for Paris 2024 and may be able to make history as the first refugee athletes to win an Olympic medal."

As of June, 44 refugee athletes had been given scholarships as part of their bids for Paris 2024, but not all of them will be selected for the Games.

They are from 12 countries and 12 sports, with Al-Ghoutani now becoming the eighth in taekwondo.

He has been training with the THF, which works to teach the sport to refugees and displaced people around the world, since he was 15.

In 2018, he became the THF's second black belt.