News Eleven years ago, Yiech Pur Biel fled Sudan to escape a fierce civil war After living in a refugee camp for 10 years, he started running competitively just over a year ago This August, the 21-year-old will compete in the 800m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games “I can show to my fellow refugees that they have a chance and a hope in life,” said Biel, who was one of 10 athletes selected for the first Olympic Refugee team last week Biel now trains at the Tegla Loroupe Foundation in Nairobi (Photo: IOC) Biel's journey from his home town of Nasir to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, which he completed on his own in 2005, was reminiscent of that made by the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ in the 1980s and 1990s Thousands of children from the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups, displaced and often orphaned during the Second Sudanese War which raged until 2005, trekked enormous distances before being settled in Kakuma The Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan Kakuma is one of the largest refugee camps in the world, home to more than 179,000 people, many of them living there long-term “In the refugee camp, we have no facilities – even shoes we don’t have,” Biel said “There is no gym Even the weather does not favour training because from morning until evening it is sunny and hot ” But despite the challenges, Biel continued to practice sport in the camp which, he says, gave him a sense of belonging   Last year Biel found out that the Tegla Loroupe Foundation, named after the Kenyan Olympian and world champion marathon runner, would be holding athletics trials in Kakuma Although he had never run competitively before, he decided to enter and was selected to join the foundation Today he trains under Tegla Loroupe herself in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, along with four other runners from South Sudan selected for the Olympic refugee team – a joint initiative by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) 'I feel Brazilian,' says Syrian refugee who carried Olympic torch in Brasília The IOC is providing a full support team and the athletes will march at the opening ceremony under the Olympic flag Loroupe will act as the team’s chef de mission, leading a crew of five coaches and five other team officials Biel's other team-mates will be two swimmers from Syria, two judokas from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a marathon runner from Ethiopia Brazil to welcome refugee team with 'open arms' The refugee athletes receive funding from the IOC's Olympic Solidarity fund (Photo: IOC) As his training in Nairobi intensifies ahead of the Games, Biel is determined to grab his opportunity to represent the world’s refugees on such a grand stage “Even if I don’t get gold or silver, I will show the world that, as a refugee, you can do something,” he said Rio2016 com is profiling each of the 10 athletes in the Olympic refugee team Also see: Syrian swimmer Rami Anis’s journey from Aleppo to the Rio 2016 Games James Chiengjiek’s escape from the clutches of war to Rio 2016 Prolific marathon runner Yonas Kinde finally able to compete at Olympic Games