The IOC offers the following Video News Release to all news agencies, broadcasters and online news platforms free of charge. STORY SCRIPT: The Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) and the International Olympic Committee Refugee Olympic Team (EOR*) have received the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Sports from the Princess of Asturias Foundation.  The award was presented by Her Royal Highness Leonor, The Princess of Asturias, to IOC President Thomas Bach. He was accompanied by IOC Refugee Olympic Team members Eldric Sella (boxing) and Masomah Ali Zada (cycling), who both competed at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Their Majesties The King and Queen of Spain, and Her Royal Highness Infanta Sofia also attended the glittering awards ceremony at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, Spain. The Princess of Asturias awards are considered second only to the Nobel Prizes and the sports award recognises the opportunities that the ORF and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team provide to young displaced people around the world to access sport and thrive in all aspects of their lives. Earlier this week members of the ORF and EOR toured schools in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias Principality, to talk about how the IOC’s efforts have made a huge difference in their lives. The IOC has been helping refugees through sport since 1994 in partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In 2015, the IOC created the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team. The team took part in the Olympic Games Rio 2016 with 10 athletes – who originally hailed from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The team sent a message of hope and inclusion to millions of forcibly displaced people around the world, inspiring the world with the strength of their human spirit. Following the team’s success, a dedicated Olympic Solidarity programme was created to support 56 promising refugee athletes from 13 countries in the build-up to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where the IOC Refugee Olympic Team participated once again, with 29 athletes competing in 12 sports. The IOC has since announced that the team will continue for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.