Yiech Pur Biel, athletics (800 m), South Sudan
The short-distance runner Yiech Pur Biel became a refugee since his childhood back in 2005, when he fled from South Sudan to Kenya, where he now lives and trains. However, the 21-year-old’s passion for running is a recent phenomena—that’s why his achievement is all the more remarkable. He once played football in Kakuma, a refugee camp in Kenya. Biel hasn’t ever planned to leave Kenya since he got there. “To go out to Brazil, it will be a great moment in my life and a story to my children and grandchildren,” he says.
He is now a self-proclaimed ambassador for refugees, explaining, “We are human beings like other people, you see.”