Three years in the making, this 90 minute documentary entitled 'RUN' will premier on June 20th and tells the story of the Athlete Refugee Team (A.R.T), a running team comprised of refugees from the Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Morocco, who started their seemingly impossible journey towards the 2020 Olympics back in 2017.
The documentary begins at the Tegla Peace Foundation training camp in Nairobi (Kenya) where the 31 team members undergo intense high-altitude training leading up to the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London – the first ever event competed in by the A.R.T.
It follows the group of hand-picked athletes competing in a series of international qualifying competitions across Europe, the Middle East and China – during which six members fled from the team to seek asylum. The documentary finishes in March this year, a week before the final competition in Doha, where the IOC was to select the Athlete Refugee Team members for competing in Tokyo, and as Covid-19 cancelled sports across the world, shattering the imminent hopes and dreams of the group competing in the Olympics this year. The documentary is a moving portrayal of how these heroic athletes train in Kenya for the ensuing competitions and whose lives are transformed from living in war-torn tribal regions to being able to compete on the world (and future Olympic) stage.
A.R.T is funded by On Running, IAAF, the UNHCR and Pascal Gerdsmeier, a private investor based in Monaco. They also receive a grant from the IOC.
For more info and watch the documentary, head over to www.AthleteRefugeeTeam.com
