THEY compete under the same flag but speak different languages and come from different parts of the world. After fleeing war and persecution at home, 37 athletes from 11 countries will compete in the Paris Games as part of the Refugee Olympic Team.

The team was created for the Rio Olympics in 2016 as a symbol of hope and to call attention to the plight of refugees worldwide.

In Paris, the refugee athletes will take the stage at a time of record global migration, with hundreds of millions of people — many of them displaced from their homes — working to reinvent themselves just as these athletes have.