A year since fleeing Syria and being forced to swim for her life, Yusra Mardini has become the first athlete to represent the refugee team at Rio 2016. But it was a symbolic triumph no less.
Advertisement
She and her sister jumped into the water and began pushing their boat towards the Greek coast.
Mardini didn’t lose any family members in the conflict, “but we lost two or three swimmers who were really good friends”.
The motor of their small dinghy boat (made to carry six people, but carrying 20) almost capsized.
At the time of the ordeal, Mardini hadn’t competed in about a year due to the chaos engulfing Syria.
Mardini eventually made it to Greece and then settled in Germany.
Yusra had represented Syria in the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships. Chinese Taipei, a nation more traditionally known as Taiwan, will participate in Rio with 59 athletes under a cloud of controversy. Even though the semifinals won’t be held until Saturday evening, her victory has already gained an awesome amount of excitement on social media.
They are all competing under the Olympic flag in an effort to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis, the IOC said last month.
One of the refugees selected to compete at Rio is 24-year-old Paulo Amotun Lokoro, a refugee from South Sudan.
Before she stepped up to the starting platform, Mardini paused, looked down and appeared to close her eyes.
“Crying in the corner, that’s just not me”, she said. Or the water she grew up loving, which she thought she might not see again? She along with another refugee save the lives of 20 fellow refugees when their boat started to sink whilst crossing between Turkey and Greec.
To say the International Olympic Committee has its issues would be an understatement.
The squad also includes five runners from South Sudan, a marathoner from Ethiopia who now lives in Luxembourg, two Congolese judo athletes and another Syrian swimmer, Rami Anis.
Advertisement
Mardini’s astonishing 25-day journey took her to Lebanon, across the Aegean Sea and finally to Germany as part of her remarkable story.
