The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday released the list of refugee athlete scholarship-holders who are aiming to be part of the IOC Refugee Olympic team Tokyo 2020, according to the IOC website.

The IOC made the announcement on the World Refugee Day, which is celebrated every year on June 20.

The athletes compete in eight sports and consist of 10 of the members who formed the inaugural team at Rio 2016.

"On World Refugee Day, we celebrate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees," said Thomas Bach, IOC President.

"With the announcement of the list of refugee scholarship holders, we want to show that refugees are an enrichment to sport and to society.

"All athletes announced today are aiming to be part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team at Tokyo 2020.

"This team is the continuation of a human journey that started with the first IOC Refugee Olympic Team at Rio 2016.

"The team will send a signal of hope to all the refugees around the world and will be a reminder to everybody of the magnitude of the refugee crisis."

The 37 are refugees from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria. They are training in athletics, badminton, boxing, judo, karate, swimming, taekwondo and weightlifting.