This 18-year-old swimmer is possibly the most inspiring Olympic athlete

‘Even if you lose someone, even if it’s war, even if you lose your house, you have to continue’


The journey to the Olympic Games can be a challenging one for any hopeful athlete. But for 18-year-old Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini, that journey was not just challenging – it was life-threatening.

Yusra Mardini is an 18-year-old competitive swimmer from Damascus, Syria. Daughter of a swim instructor, Yusra began her training in the pool at just three years of age. She quickly fell in love with the sport and soon became a talented competitor. At only 14 years old, she represented Syria in the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships backed by the support of the Syrian Olympic Committee.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIyJc5gDHTV/?taken-by=mardiniysra

But in 2011, as civil war erupted in Syria, Yusra found that it became more and more difficult, and dangerous, for her to focus on her training. “Sometimes we couldn’t train because of the war,” she told the Independent. “And sometimes you would be swimming in pools where the roofs were [blown open] in three or four places.” In 2012, the Daraya Massacre destroyed the Mardini family’s home. 

Tired of the increasing instability and danger of her country plagued by war, Yusra decided that if she wanted to pursue her dreams, she had to continue her life outside of Syria.

In August of 2015, 17-year-old Yusra Mardini, along with her sister Sarah, fled war-torn Syria with only a backpack to her name. Together the sisters traveled to Lebanon, and then to Turkey, where they were to board a small boat that would carry them to Greece.

30 minutes into their journey through the Aegean Sea, their dinghy’s engine died and the boat, meant for six people but carrying 20, began to take on water. Rather than let the boat capsize, Yusra, her sister, and two other men, the only four passengers who knew how to swim, jumped into the frigid and choppy water and began pulling the boat the rest of the way. “I’m thinking, what? I’m a swimmer, and I’m going to die in the water in the end?” Yusra said to The New York Times.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BI86pT9ji3n/?taken-by=mardiniysra

She made sure she did not succumb to that fate. Yusra and her sister guided the boat through the harsh ocean water for three and a half hours, even after the other men gave up, until they finally reached the island of Lesbos. “I had one hand with the rope attached to the boat as I moved my two legs and one arm,” Yusra recounted in an interview with the Independent. “It was three and half hours in cold water. Your body is almost like… done. I don’t know if I can describe that.”

But Yusra does not think of the experience in a negative light. In fact, she confessed to the Independent, “I remember that without swimming I would never be alive maybe because of the story of this boat. It’s a positive memory for me.”

Equally as remarkable as Yusra’s courage and strength is her can-do attitude and positive outlook. Even in the most terrifying turn of events where death seemed the likely outcome, Yusra managed to keep the boat’s spirits up. “The little kids kept looking at me scared,” she revealed to The New York Times, “so I was doing all these funny faces.” However, Yusra understands that not everyone in the situation could embody the same optimism and undying perseverance that allowed her to save all 20 lives, including her own. “It was really hard, for everyone,” she told the Independent, “and I don’t blame anyone if they cried. But sometimes you just have to move on.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BH97NVdD7RN/?taken-by=mardiniysra

And that’s exactly what she did. After reaching Greece’s shores, Yusra and her sister traveled across Central Europe for 25 more days, through Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary and Austria, until they finally met their father at a refugee camp in Berlin.

After a few weeks of adjusting to her new life in Germany, Yusra longed to get back in the water. She joined the Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 swimming club where Coach Sven Spannekrebs saw promising potential in her and began training her with sights set on the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. But when the International Olympic Committee decided to create a refugee team, the first in Olympic history, for the Rio 2016 Games, Yusra’s swimming dreams were realized much sooner than expected. Yusra became one of 10 refugee athletes to compete under the Olympic flag.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BI-NZ-xDWqz/?taken-by=mardiniysra

Yusra soon became an active voice in support of refugees around the 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,” Mardini said in a press conference announcing her place on the Olympic team. “Everything is about trying to get a new and better life and by entering the stadium we are encouraging everyone to pursue their dreams.”

Yusra competed in two events in the Rio Games. She won her preliminary heat in the 100m butterfly, but did not make it to the semifinals, and came in seventh place in her heat for women’s 100m freestyle. Even though she did not walk away with a medal, Yusra says that her main goal for Rio was to achieve her personal best and inspire other refugees to never give up.

“I am the face of a lot of people who suffered,” she explained to NBC News, “and I hope I can give the people hope and inspire them that you can’t stop, even if you lose someone, even if it’s war, even if you lose your house, you have to continue.”

From sinking to swimming, Yusra Mardini proves to be an inspiration not only to other refugees, but to everyone who hears her story.