Neymar of Brazil celebrates scoring the winning penalty in the penalty shoot out during the Men’s Football Final between Brazil and Germany at the Maracana Stadium on Day 15 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 20, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“Sport has the power to change the world…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”
“I want to represent all the refugees because I want to show everyone that, after the pain, after the storm, comes calm days.”
A Syrian refugee who found sanctuary in Europe after swimming in the icy Mediterranean waters enjoyed a fairy tale start to her Olympic dream on Saturday, winning her swimming heat.
Yusra Mardini is one of 10 athletes selected to compete in the first ever Olympics team composed entirely of refugees. The men and women from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of the Congo received huge applause when they entered the opening ceremony on Friday.
ardini, 18, was forced to swim for her life when her migrant boat began sinking as it was ferrying her and roughly 20 other refugees to Europe last year.
She and her sister, who both knew how to swim, jumped out and pushed the boat for three and a half hours until they reached the Greek island of Lesbos, she told the UN Refugee Agency.
“It would have been shameful if the people on our boat had drowned,” she said. “There were people who didn’t know how to swim. I wasn’t going to sit there and complain that I would drown. If was going to drown, at least I’d drown proud of myself and my sister.”
After they found refuge in Berlin, Mardini began swimming at a local sports club where she caught the eye of a coach.
When the International Olympic Committee decided to field a team of refugee athletes to draw global attention to the refugee crisis, Mardini was among those who qualified — barely nine months after she first arrived in Europe.
On Saturday, Mardini won her Women’s 100 meter butterfly swimming heat, posting a time of 1:09:21.
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