New European champion runner for Switzerland invited by IOC to return to refugee Olympic team in Paris

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The new European champion in the men’s 10,000 meters, Dominic Lobalu, was invited Thursday by the IOC to race in the Paris Games next month for the Refugee Olympic Team he left in 2019.

If Lobalu decides to return to the team he left five years ago, fueled in part by a dispute over prize money, he could win his first Olympic medal. The official refugee team began competing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Lobalu won 10,000 golds on Wednesday night in Rome, adding to his bronze in the 5,000 on Saturday, weeks after World Athletics allowed him to represent Switzerland despite not being a citizen.

“He is not currently a Swiss citizen, which the Olympic Charter would require,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement on Thursday, after its executive board refused to approve his eligibility six weeks before the opening ceremony in Paris.

Lobalu, a refugee from South Sudan, has lived and trained in Switzerland since leaving the Olympic program in a dispute for control of runner management.

Lobalu later told Time Magazine in an interview for an article published before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics that team management restricted runners’ ability to win and keep prize money from road races.

He said he rejected an offer to return to the program that could have allowed him to make his Olympic debut in Tokyo.

In Tokyo that year, IOC officials recognized criticism led to a review of the refugee athlete program.

The IOC detailed on Thursday its invitation for Lobalu to add to the Previously announced Refugee Olympic Team to Paris of 36 athletes from 11 countries in 12 sports.

“He has an offer to compete in Paris, it’s perfectly possible,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “Our rules are very clear. You must have the nationality of the country you represent.”

Swiss Olympic team officials explained to the IOC that it is “very difficult to obtain Swiss citizenship,” Adams said, with a minimum requirement of 10 years of residency.

___

AP Olympics: