Cuban canoeist can compete on the refugee team at the Paris Olympics, according to a spokesperson for the IOC.

Journalist Francys Romero quoted a statement from a spokesperson for the Official Olympic Committee (IOC) this Wednesday, asserting that Olympic canoeing champion Fernando Dayán Jorge has every right to be part of the refugee team that will attend the Paris 2024 Olympics, despite the demands for "immediate expulsion" announced by the Cuban government.

"The athletes of the Refugee Olympic Team were selected based on their refugee status, granted by their country of asylum and verified by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency," a spokesperson for the IOC would have responded to a query from Cuban sports journalist Miguel Hernández Méndez, a statement made public by Romero on his social media. “All competitors at the Olympics, including those from the Refugee Olympic Team, can enjoy freedom of expression, in accordance with Olympic values and the Fundamental Principles of the Olympic Games," the statement concludes.

Romero concluded that the Cuban canoer Fernando Dayán Jorge is fully entitled to participate with the Refugee Olympic Team (IOC), and that the aforementioned response "refutes the absurd statement from the Cuban Olympic Committee demanding Jorge's expulsion from #Paris2024."

The battle of the Cuban Olympic Committee against Fernando Dayán Jorge

In recent hours, the demand from Cuban sports authorities for Olympic canoeing champion Fernando Dayán Jorge to be expelled from the team of refugees attending the Paris 2024 Olympics went viral.

The Cuban organization stated that it has been in communication with the International Olympic Committee to clarify what they consider a "regrettable situation."

"The decision to include Cuban athletes in the EOR was made behind the back of the Cuban Olympic Committee and with the clear aim of attacking the image of the national sports movement, which has brought so much glory to our people," the statement asserts.

Fernando Dayán, who left a Cuban delegation in Mexico in 2022 and currently resides in Miami, is part of the Olympic Refugee Team (EOR) along with his compatriot Ramiro Mora Romero, a weightlifter with multiple records, who lives in London.

The Cuban Olympic Committee (COC) stated that both were unjustly included and accused the EOR of falsely presenting them as athletes "uprooted by war or persecution."

The COC affirmed that it has nothing against Cuban athletes and coaches who live or develop their careers in other countries competing in the Olympics representing those nations. However, it specifically opened a front against Fernando Dayán Jorge by stating that in his case, "he has made disrespectful and false political statements against his country, his people, and the sports movement that allowed him to be an Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020."

"It is a violation of the Olympic Charter and the rules established by the IOC for all athletes participating in the Olympic Games," said the Cuban authorities, for whom the athlete's stance is evidence of the true political motivation behind including him in the refugee team.

In the final segment of their plea, the COC reiterated its strongest rejection of the inclusion of Cuban athletes in the Olympic Refugee Team, considering it a "political manipulation of sports."

The kayaker Fernando Dayán Jorge, who illegally entered the United States through the southern border, said last year from Miami that "it's very sad to know that you can't fulfill your dream in the place where you are born."

"There were many moments when I was disappointed, when I did not agree with the things that were happening," he emphasized.