The overall group comprises athletes from 12 countries who are currently living in 18 host countries, representing 10 sports and all in hope of being selected for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

The 11 new athletes who join the 44 scholarship-holders - three of whom can now compete for the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of their host countries after taking up citizenship - announced in June, compete in six different sports and include three athletes who took part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The new athletes are Syrian judoka Mohamad Akkash, whose host NOC is Germany, Syrian taekwondo athlete Yahya Al Ghotany, whose host NOC is Jordan, Masomah Ali Zada, a cyclist from Afghanistan, whose host NOC is France, Mohammad Amin Alsalami, a Syrian athlete whose host NOC is Germany, Ethiopian cyclist Eyeru Gebru, whose host NOC is France, Moroccan athlete Fouad Idbafdil, whose host NOC is France, Syrian judoka Adnan Khakan, whose host NOC is Germany, Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, whose host NOC is Italy, Cameroonian boxer Cindy Ngamba, whose host NOC is the United Kingdom, Afghanistan taekwondo athlete Abdullah Sediqi, whose host NOC is Belgium, and Afghanistan judoka Nigara Shaheen, whose host NOC is Canada.      

The refugee athlete scholarships are funded by the IOC through its Olympic Solidarity programme and provide the athletes with financial support for training and competition as they seek to reach Paris 2024.

"This means a lot to me," said scholarship-holder Mohammad Amin Alsalami, a 28-year-old long jumper who now lives in Germany after fleeing Syria.

"As an athlete my dream was to win a medal at the Olympics, and that was very difficult to achieve alone, without help in a foreign country.

"I had to work 200 hours a month to earn money to train and go to training camps and competitions and pay for everything myself.

"But now training has become easier because I know that there is the IOC to support me."

The IOC established the Refugee Athlete Scholarship Programme following the participation of the first-ever IOC Refugee Olympic Team at Rio 2016.

The team was created by the IOC to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis and was announced by IOC President Thomas Bach at the 2015 United Nations General Assembly.

The programme has since been expanded to give NOCs the chance to identify refugee athletes living in their countries and support them during their training, preparation and participation in high-level competitions.

This resulted in more than 50 refugee athletes receiving scholarships in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with 29 athletes in 12 sports being chosen to compete there for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.