The decision was taken by the ORF Board, chaired by IOC President Thomas Bach, and vice-chair UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

The ORF Board also announced seven new Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holders at its meeting at Paris 2024 Organising Committee headquarters.

They will join the Refugee Athlete Support programme and will eye a spot in the Refugee Olympic Team Paris 2024.

The seven selected are table tennis player Mahdi Ahmadian of Iran, taekwondo athlete Marzieh Hamidi of Afghanistan, weightlifter Yekta Jamali Galeh of Iran, Sudanese Kun Waar Liem and Dominican Republic's Kiruhura Emmanuel Ntagunga in athletics, wrestler Jamal Valizadeh and badminton player Dorsa Yavarivafa of Iran.

The meeting also saw IOC member Felicite Rwemwerika of Rwanda and former Alpine skier Josefina Salas being unanimously reappointed to the Board.

Bach and Grandi visited ORF's Terrains d’Avenir programme after the meeting.

The programme, co-financed by the French Ministry of Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, aims to provide 7,000 young people affected by displacement with access to sport by 2025.

Bach invited 10 displaced youngsters part of the Terrains d’Avenir programme to join him for an event during the visit.

"The athletes of the Refugee Olympic Team demonstrate to a global audience that we are all part of the same humanity," Bach said.  

"Their participation in the Olympic Games is a clear signal that refugees are our fellow human beings - that they are an enrichment to society just as they are an enrichment to our Olympic community.

"Through its work, the Olympic Refuge Foundation will connect the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with displaced communities, and in particular refugees who live in and around Paris."

Finally, a documentary called "We Dare to Dream", directed by Oscar-nominated refugee director Waad Al Kateab was screened.

The film is due to be premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on June 11, while young Terrains d’Avenir participants will be invited to watch it in Paris next year.

The ORF is collaborating with Board member and film producer Joe Gebbia to use this opportunity as part of an impact campaign.

"Sport truly transcends boundaries and brings people together," said Grandi after the meeting.

"There are few better ways to support refugees to recover from experiences of trauma and alienation than to include them in their new society through sport - we have witnessed this in action."