An
18-year-old Syrian who pushed a sinking dinghy toward Greece’s Lesbos
Islands after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey has been chosen to
compete at the Rio Olympics as part of a 10-strong refugee team.
“I
just got a mail from the IOC [the International Olympic Committee]
saying that I’m going to the Olympics; I’m so happy for that,” the young
swimmer, Yusra Mardini, wrote on her Facebook account.
“I can’t describe how I feel and I want to thank everyone who helped me to arrive at this point,” she added. The
woman, alongside her sister Sarah Mardini, was among the top swimmers
in Syria before the conflict that erupted in 2011 spread across the
country, which prompted them to seek a better life in Europe via Turkey.
The
sisters initially escaped to Lebanon and later made their way to
Turkey. From Turkey’s Aegean coast, they paid human smugglers to reach
Lesbos but were left abandoned half way across the Aegean.
According
to reports, the motor of the dinghy that was carrying them toward
Lesbos stopped around half-an-hour after they began the dangerous
journey. The boat started taking on water even though the refugees threw
out all bags and heavy items into the sea – at which point the two
sisters jumped into the water and started pushing the boat toward the
island on the horizon.
Reports indicate the sisters, accompanied
by two other refugees, pushed the boat toward Lesbos for over
three-and-a-half hours, managing to reach Lesbos.
From there, the
Mardini sisters traveled to Germany, where Yusra Mardini joined the
aquatic team Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 located near a refugee camp in
Berlin.
Yusra Mardini was initially shortlisted among 43 athletes
to join the Rio Olympics as part of the first team of refugees to
compete under the Olympic banner. She was later named to the 10-strong
team alongside another Syrian swimmer, two judo athletes from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, an Ethiopian long-distance runner and
five middle distance runners from South Sudan.
The other Syrian
swimmer to compete at the Olympics also resided in Turkey for some time
after his family sent him to live with his brother who was studying in
Istanbul at the time.
Rami Anis stayed in Turkey for “years,”
reports suggest, during which period he practiced at the pool of
Galatasaray. However, Anis was not given an identity card, preventing
him from joining competitions.
Finally, Anis also paid human
smugglers and crossed the Aegean to Greece’s Samos Island, from which he
traveled to Ghent in Belgium.
The Olympics, which will run from Aug. 5 to 21, will include a team of refugees for the first time.
“These
refugee athletes have no home, no team, no flag, no national anthem,”
IOC president Thomas Bach was reported as saying by Agence-France
Presse.
“The invention of this refugee team is to give them a
home in the Olympic village together with all the athletes around the
world.”
The head of the U.N. refugee agency Filippo Grandi also
hailed the unprecedented team as “a tribute to the courage and
perseverance” of all those forced to flee from their home countries.
The
team will be headed by Kenyan runner Tegla Loroupe, a world record
holder in several long-distance competitions and the first African woman
to win the New York City marathon.