More than 10,000 athletes will compete in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. But few – if any – will have as extraordinary a story as Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini.
Mardini, 23, is competing for the Refugee Olympic Team six years after she helped swim a sinking dinghy, which was carrying 20 people, to safety.
Mardini, her sister Sara and another refugee had to swim for their lives after the boat broke down as they crossed the Mediterranean to Greece from their war-torn home country.
It is thought they swam for three hours.
Now based in Germany, Mardini also represented the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Games in Rio. On Tuesday, she was once again selected alongside 28 fellow refugees.
Yusra and Sara Mardini, also a competitive swimmer, are from Damascus, Syria’s war-battered capital.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain in 2018, Mardini recalled: “We realised that we were working so hard and waking up to a routine [war] that won’t change ’til I’m 60 years old.
“I’m working as hard as people in Europe but I know I will not reach [my goals]. Why? Because there is war.”
She recalled training in a pool building where there were holes in the roof.
To escape Syria, the two sisters decided to flee to Turkey. From there, they boarded a dinghy on the Turkish coast.
“The boats are those boats you go on vacation with for five people, 10 people. There were [22] on it.
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“Most of them didn’t know how to swim. When we were on the boat the motor stopped and the water was coming in.”
She and sister jumped in the water, in an “unconscious” decision.
Battling to stay awake amid sheer exhaustion, they reached a Greek island in the middle of the night.
She continued to train after settling in Germany, earning her place on the first Refugee Olympic Team, which was created to raise awareness of the issue as hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere escaping conflict and poverty.
“When I was swimming for my life, I never would have believed I would be where I am now,” she said in an interview in 2016.
The refugee team has now been expanded to 29 athletes in sports ranging from boxing to badminton. They will compete under the Olympic flag.
“It will send a powerful message of solidarity, resilience and hope to the world, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said.
Mardini will be competing in the women’s 100m butterfly event.
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