Supporting the Refugee Paralympic Team for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

As the Official Partner of the Refugee Paralympic Team for Paris 2024, Airbnb is proud to support Refugee Paralympic Team athletes on the road to the Paralympic Games.

This year, eight athletes and two guide runners will compete as part of the largest-ever Refugee Paralympic Team (RPT). Representing the more than 100 million displaced people around the world, and the more than one billion people with disabilities worldwide, the eight athletes are based in six countries and will compete across six sports - Para athletics, Para powerlifting, Para table tennis, Para taekwondo, Para triathlon, and wheelchair fencing.

Supporting refugee athletes is an important part of our Olympics and Paralympics partnership. Airbnb, which has supported the IPC's efforts to bring the RPT to the Paralympic Games since Tokyo 2020, is providing assistance for the team's eight athletes to help them with training and other expenses, enabling each athlete to focus on preparing for their events and to perform at their best.

"This allows us to have peace of mind, and in terms of strength, to have the budget for travel for competitions, and eliminating our economic worries so that we can focus on sport." - Zakia Khudadadi, Para taekwondo, who won the 2023 European Taekwondo Championship in the 47kg category.

"[In 2020], Airbnb helped me a lot to have food on my plate, to pay my rent, to pay my expenses. If Airbnb hadn't been by my side at that time, I wouldn't have been able to practice. I would have had to look for work. I would have to stop doing sports. Airbnb helped me tremendously to remain a sportsman." - Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Para triathlete, who will compete in his third successive Paralympic Games representing the Refugee Paralympic Team. He will compete for the first time in triathlon, after previously competing in para swimming.

Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Para-triathalon, Refugee Paralympic Team. Courtesy: Getty ImagesZakia Khudadadi, Para taekwondo, Refugee Paralympic Team. Courtesy: Getty Images

Airbnb was honored to attend a ceremony celebrating the athletes at their training camp in Reims, France, ahead of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The training camp was the first time the athletes from different countries have gathered as one team.

This initiative builds on our longstanding commitment to support refugees and other displaced people. Airbnb and Airbnb.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to connecting people in times of crisis to temporary housing, have been longtime allies to people displaced by humanitarian crises and natural disasters. Since its founding in December 2020, Airbnb.org has worked with organizations around the world to provide over 1.4 million nights of free, temporary housing to more than 210,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Airbnb and Airbnb.org support the important work of the International Paralympic Committee and their commitment to build a movement where displaced people can enjoy the benefit of sports.

To meet the RPT athletes, visit the homepage of the Refugee Paralympic Team.

As a Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner, Airbnb is also committed to making Paris 2024 more accessible, and to supporting guests with disabilities and accessibility needs. Ahead of Paris 2024, we prioritized increasing the number of homes with accessibility features and now have more than 1,000 listings available with step-free accessibility features in the Paris region,¹ with many still available to book for the Paralympics. We continue working to make travel more inclusive, and improving accessibility across our platform and products. For more information on this work, please visit airbnb.com/accessibility.

Image of Refugee Paralympic Team is courtesy of Getty Images.

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