"We are living in a world of crisis, mistrust and uncertainty. Here is our Olympic answer. The 10,000 best athletes in the world competing with each other and at the same time living peacefully together, sharing their meals and emotions. "In this Olympic world there is one universal rule for everybody. We are all equal. "Respect yourselves, respect each other and the values which make the Games unique. We are living in a world where selfishness is gaining ground. Certain people claim to be superior to others. In the spirit of Olympic solidarity and with the greatest respect we welcome the refugee Olympic team."
These are the words of Bach spoken at the Rio Olympics opening ceremony. We are equal. I love watching the games (especially volleyball) and while winning medals is awesome, it is the inspirational stories that come from the event that make it intriguing for me. So many of these passionate athletes have dedicated their entire lives to prepare for just a few minutes of competition here. Sacrificing their time and bodies, not compromising on their diets, hours of rest, training schedules, taking tolls on their family relationships all for the opportunity to represent their nation in a single event. Some have suffered from setbacks such as health concerns, injuries, or discrimination and only used their adversaries to come back even stronger. For the first year ever, a team of refugees walked into the stadium of the opening ceremony with a white flag decorated with the olympic rings.
I will be watching this year's games with the upmost respect for the athletes of our nation, but also for those around the world because we are one universe and hard work should be celebrated. Of course, I will be cheering on team USA and wishing them success... Let's watch boundaries being broken over the next few weeks. I encourage you to take in the inspirational stories of the athletes and not let our culture's obsession with medal counts cloud the hard work put in by our athletes.
For more on the background of the athletes representing the refugee team, visit: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/rio-2016-olympics-refugee-team-yusra-mardini-rami-anis-syria-yonas-kinde-anjelina-nadai-lohalith-a7181241.html
