The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week confirmed the 37 refugee athlete scholarship holders who would aim to secure places in the team, an announcement which coincided with World Refugee Day.

The athletes compete in eight sports and consist of 10 of the members who formed the inaugural team at Rio 2016.

A total of 19 of the scholarship holders train at the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation Training Centre.

The centre was created in 2003 by Loroupe, with her foundation’s mission "to improve peace building, livelihoods and resilience of poor people affected by and vulnerable to conflicts and civil strife in the world".

Loroupe, a former marathon world record holder, was named United Nations person of the year in 2016 in recognition of the Olympic team.

The distance running great, who set a then-marathon record of 2 hours 20min 43sec  while also winning three individual half-marathon world titles, also led a refugee team at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat in 2017.

Loroupe was later added as a member of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Athletes' Commission to represent refugee athletes on the panel.

She will reprise her role as Chef de Mission for Tokyo 2020 and Stephen Pattison, from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), will serve as deputy Chef de Mission.

The scholarship holders' refugee status has been confirmed by UNHCR and each is benefitting from support from their host National Olympic Committees (NOCs).

These includes the NOCs of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Britain, Israel, Jordan, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Netherlands and Turkey.

International Federations were also claimed to have been influential in providing training for the athletes prior to Tokyo 2020, with the process set to continue.

The Rio 2016 team featured athletes in the sports of athletics, judo and swimming.

The three sports could again feature refugee athletes at Tokyo 2020, but competitors may also come from badminton, boxing, karate, taekwondo and weightlifting.

All are being assisted by Olympic Solidarity through its refugee athletes support programme, alongside training grants and NOC support.

The support is aimed at ensuring the athletes can train towards the Games but also continue their sporting career and enhance their future after Tokyo 2020.

The Refugee Olympic Team is expected to be announced on June 2020 to coincide with World Refugee Day.