Rebel Girls: Yusra Mardini

Yusra Mardini 

Yusra Mardini is a swimmer living in Berlin, Germany she was a member of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team that competed at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

She grew up in Damascus, and trained in swimming with the support of the Syrian Olympic Committee. she represented Syria in the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships, 200 metre individual medley, 200 metre freestyle and 400 metre freestyle events.

Her house was destroyed in the Syrian Civil War so in August 2015 her and her sister decided to flee Syria. They were planned to be smuggled into Greece by a boat with 18 other migrants, however it was only meant to be 6 or 7 people. However the motor stopped working and began to take on water, but luckily her and her sister could swim so they got out aswell as 2 other people got into the water anf began to push the boat until it reached Lesbos. 

They then traveled through Europe to Germany, where they settled in Berlin in September 2015. Yusra Mardini continued her training with her coach Sven Spannenkrebs from Wasserfreunde Spandau in Berlin, in hopes of qualifying for the Olympics.

Mardini competed in the 100 metres freestyle and the 100 metres butterfly at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. At the Rio Olympics, Mardini won a 100m butterfly heat against four other swimmers, with a time of 1:09.21 and a rank of 41st among 45 entrants.


References:

Elena, F., and Francesca, C., 2016. Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls. Timbuktu Labs, Incorporated 

UNHCR, Yusra Mardini. [online] Available at: <http://www.unhcr.org/uk/yusra-mardini.html> [Accessed 4 May 2018]

Elle, 2017. Meet Yusra Mardini, The Teenage Syrian Refugee Turned Olympic Swimmer. [online] Available at: <https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/longform/a39703/syrian-refugee-olympic-swimmer-yusra-mardini/> [Accessed 4 May 2018]