THF Athlete Wins IOC Scholarship for Paris 2024

Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) athlete Yahya Basam

Al-Ghoutani has been awarded a Refugee Athlete Scholarship by the IOC to help him train towards the goal of being selected for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.

Al-Ghoutani met with IOC President and Chair of the Olympic Refuge Foundation Thomas Bach, alongside fellow Taekwondo refugee athlete Wael Fawaz Al-Farraj during Bach’s visit to Jordan. The meeting took place at the JOC’s Olympic Preparation Center which Bach was visiting.

Al-Ghoutani becomes the eighth Taekwondo athlete to have been awarded a Refugee Athlete Scholarship for Paris 2024, along with compatriot Wael.

Al-Ghoutani is a Syrian refugee living in the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. He has been training in Taekwondo through the THF since he was 15 and became the THF’s second black belt back in 2018.

“We are delighted that Yahya has been awarded this IOC Scholarship,” said THF Chair Chungwon Choue. “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.”

The full list of the nine Taekwondo athletes selected by the IOC to receive Olympic Scholarships for Refugee Athletes is as follows: o Abdullah Sediqi o Dina Pouryounes Langeroudi o Ehsan Naghibzadeh o Gaston Nsazumukiza o Kasra Mehdipournejad o Kimia Alizadeh Zenozi o Mohammad Emami o Wael Fawaz Al-Farraj o Yahya Al Ghotany