KELETELA Dorian

General
LEAVING CONGO
He was born in Congo but in 2016 he and his aunt left the country for Portugal after he lost both parents to conflict. He arrived in Portugal at age 17 and spent over a year in refugee centres. "People sometimes have the impression refugees are bad but they are normal people. Refugees are very motivated to invest in their life, to recreate their life. They are normal people that just had to move from their country that's in conflict to go to another. For me, to be a refugee is an opportunity to be here to run. If I wasn't a refugee, I wouldn't be able to run at the Olympics. I can be an inspiration for other refugees and people who have a similar experience to me because life is not always easy for everyone." (worldathletics.org, 15 Jun 2021; olympics.com, 06 Jun 2021)

He became the first member of the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team to compete at the European indoor championships when he participated at the 2021 edition of the tournament in Torun, Poland. (worldathletics.org, 15 Jun 2021)