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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2016 20 Sport SPORTTODAY OLYMPICS IOC undecided over refugee team for Tokyo 2020 Games THE newly-formed refugee team competing at this year's Olympics was one of the highlights in Rio de Janeiro but it is not clear if it will compete at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, the International Olym- pic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday. The IOC unveiled its first team of refugees in June in an effort to raise awareness of the issue and it was one of the feel-good stories of the Rio Olympics. But it has yet to decide whether to send another refugee team to Tokyo in four years time. "We will see. The team in Rio was to remind the world of the situation (of refugees)," Pere Miro, the IOC's Deputy Director Gen- eral for Relations with the Olym- pic Movement, told reporters. "(For Tokyo) this has not yet been decided. To have a team in Rio was not an objective in itself but a means to put this problem to the world," Miro said. "We will now go step by step." The 10-member refugee team, hand-picked by the IOC, hogged the spotlight after marching as the penultimate team before hosts Brazil in the Opening Cer- emony at the Olympic stadium on Aug. 5. More than a million refugees streamed into Europe in the past year alone as they f led fighting in Syria and other countries. Millions more are housed in camps in countries across the world, having escaped dozens of wars or armed conf licts in their home nations. The Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) included five athletes from South Sudan, two from Syria, two from Democratic Republic of Congo and one from Ethiopia. Miro said although a decision on Tokyo had yet to be taken, all national Olympic committees had been tasked with locating any potential Olympians among refu- gees living in their countries. As for the 10 refugees who took part in Rio, Miro said the IOC would continue supporting them in their quest for sporting achievement or just a normal life away from war and violence. "We have not abandoned the 10 athletes," he said. "We continue working with them. We have the duty to continue working with them." Flagbearer Rose Nathike Lokonyen (ROT) of the Refugee Olympic Athletes leads her contingent during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics in Rio Rio 2016, the most perfect imperfect Games - IOC THE Rio de Janeiro Olympics may not have been perfect but organisers exceeded expectations given the po- litical and economic situation in the South American country, the Inter- national Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday. Rio, the first Olympic host city on the continent, had to grapple with a protracted political crisis, the worst recession in more than 80 years and a string of organisational problems due to a lack of cash. The run-up to the Games was an obstacle course for local organisers and the IOC had to put up hundreds of millions of dollars of its eventual contribution before the start of the Olympics to help out. The Games' anti-doping pro- gramme was also affected by a lack of funding amid a widening Russian drugs scandal while venues were hit by problems including water qual- ity in pools and a virtual absence of branding around the Olympic park due to issues with banner suppliers. "From an operational point of view everything worked," the IOC's Olympic Games executive direc- tor Christophe Dubi told reporters. "Were they perfect? No. "But with the results we can really take our hat off (to Rio organisers). It is amazing what they delivered con- sidering their standpoint," he said. Dubi said the IOC was satisfied with the Rio Games especially with athletes' performances that yielded 100 world and Olympic records and brought several countries their first medals and with global coverage which beat past records. "We are right on target when you consider the money that was spent for these Games," Dubi said. Rio was awarded the Games in 2009 amid Brazil's booming econo- my at the time and a different set of expectations by the IOC before the political crisis and the sharp finan- cial downturn changed organisers' plans. They then had to deal with a daily barrage of questions and criticism regarding organisation, with empty seats in venues and unsold tickets marring the start of the Olympics. A lack of spectators was evident in even the most iconic venues during the 16-day event in August, includ- ing the Copacabana beach volleyball stadium on the famed Rio beach. "Someone called them the most perfect imperfect Games," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "It's actually quite a good characterisa- tion." A lack of spectators was evident in even the most iconic venues during the 16-day event in August