The incredible story of the Syrian refugee who is competing in this year’s Olympic Games

This is an incredible story.

18-year-old Yusra Mardini is one of the most highly anticipated athletes taking part in this year’s Olympic Games. The talented and heroic Syrian swimmer has endured more setbacks at her tender age than most of us ever will in our whole lifetime. Although every single person competing in the Olympics is super human in some way, the story of how Mardini reached Rio is truly extraordinary. Yusra and her sister, Sarah are refugees. They fled war-torn Syria when tensions in their country escalated to a point where they feared for their lives. Speaking to the Independent.co.uk Mardini describes the everyday realities of her life, trying to train for the Olympics in a country besieged by war

“…sometimes we couldn’t train because of the war, and sometimes you would be swimming in pools where the roofs were [blown open] in three or four places”

The pair decided to flee Damascus and set off for a new life, hoping to reach Greece. However, tragedy struck when the small inflatable boat that they were travelling in began to sink. The dinghy that was only meant to carry six people was jammed with twenty in the middle of the Aegean Sea when the engine failed. Most people on board, including women and children could not swim. Yusra, Sarah, and two other strong swimmers jumped out without a second thought and started to push the boat in the treacherous open water

“We were the only four who knew how to swim.” She said “I had one hand with a rope attached to the boat as I moved my two legs and one arm. It was three and a half hours in cold water. Your body is almost like…done. I don’t know if I can describe that”

Amazingly, everyone on board survived. And Mardini reached Germany, where she settled with her sister and began to swim again for a local club, Wasserfreunde Spandau 04. The Germans quickly realised her potential and she soon became hotly tipped for Olympic selection. Yusra, is now using her platform to destigmatise the preconceptions that surround refugees in the Western World

“I want everyone to think refugees are normal people who had their homelands and lost them not because they wanted to run away and be refugees, but because they have dreams in their lives and they had to go” she told a press conference in Rio.”

She will compete as part of the refugee team in the women’s 100-metre butterfly and freestyle heats on Wednesday. You can watch her incredible story below