Anis and Yusra will be part of the Refugee Team at the Olympics in Rio along other eight players. “There are a lot of people who have put their hopes in us and we can’t let them down”. Yusra and her sister, Sarah, were with 18 other refugees on a boat that fits for eight persons.
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“No, They had to leave their countries, and everyone is trying to get a new life, to get a better life”.
Mardini competes in the women’s 100 metre butterfly heats less than a year after she plunged into the Aegean Sea to help push a sinking boat of 20 migrants to safety.
Amid a world in apparent chaos, the Rio Olympics will shine a poignant reflection of the disturbing turbulence.
Now, she is buoyed by what she calls an “amazing” spirit of this unique team that has all come together for the first time in Rio.
“When I was swimming for my life, I never would have believed I would be where I am now”, the IOM quoted her as saying.
Speaking at a press conference in Rio alongside the nine other refugee athletes with whom she will march under the International Olympic Committee flag at the opening ceremony on Friday, Mardini said: “A lot of things have happened in our lives that were really bad but you must remember life will not stop for you”.
“It is interesting to see the different dynamics of the ones who have travelled more than the others but it is also nice to see them helping each other out”.
Edington has been impressed by the level of resolve among the Olympic Refugee Team, acknowledging their life journeys have shaped them as people.
Rather matter-of-factly on Tuesday, she said the camp was “challenging because sometimes maybe you can be attacked by the host communities”.
“I was in a taxi with three of the South Sudanese athletes”.
This month-exactly a year later-Mardini will swim in the Olympics, as a member of the first-ever refugee Olympic team.
One evening they boarded a dinghy on the Turkish coast along with 20 others – around three times as many people as it was created to carry.
Since the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team arrived in Brazil towards the end of last week, leading Brazilians, global celebrities and fellow athletes have rallied to their side.
Jenny’s got the full story.
“Some of them have already said how they can’t wait to tell their kids and their grandkids about this experience and I think that is something very cool to have”.
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“I’ll be honored, I’ll be proud, I’ll be happy”, Mardini says of marching in the opening ceremonies as millions watch from their homes.
