Yusra Mardini at the Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 training pool in Berlin, Germany. Mardini is one of 10 refugee athletes who will compete as a team during the Rio Olympics. Credit: photo courtesy of International Olympic Committee.
In August of 2015, Yusra Mardini and her sister, Sarah, fled Syria after their home was destroyed in the country’s civil war. The sisters traveled on land through Lebanon and Turkey, eventually boarding a boat with 18 other refugees. When that boat’s motor failed in the Aegean Sea,Mardini, her sister, and another woman jumped out and pushed the boat for three hours to the island of Lesbos.
“These things are not about sports only but about longing for freedom.”
