Swimming – Syrian refugee Mardini a winner in the water

In a BBC spotlight on Team Refugee, the team of ten displaced athletes from around the world competing under the flag of the International Olympics Committee, Mardini describes her journey from Syria to Germany. Mardini, her sister and a few others jumped in the water and swam for three hours to pull the boat and its passengers to safety in Lesbos, Greece.

While every athlete at the Olympic Games has an interesting story, Yusra Mardani, who is in Rio to represent a team of 10 refugees, has a very special one.

If you watched the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics’ opening ceremony last night, you probably noticed something very different about the traditional procession of athletes from each country.

“I’ll be honoured. I’ll be proud”.

“I’m really excited”, Mardini said of the next competition on Wednesday.

Here at GLAMOUR we’ll be cheering loudly for ROT along with Team GB.

But there is a reason Mardini is widely considered the face of the 10-strong refugee team and so highly in demand.

“This is a dream for any athlete”, said Anis. “In the refugee camp, we have no facilities. Nothing is as dear to my heart as my homeland”.

Copacabana communion: Of all the sports at these Olympics, perhaps none is more emblematic of Brazil than beach volleyball.

“In Congo I lost my mother, I became a child without parents, without a family, separated from my brother”.

The opening ceremony in Rio will feature a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are struggling worldwide. She adds: “My sister told me, ‘If something happens, don’t help anyone.’ And then she gets in the water and she helps them, and it was quite hard to think that you are a swimmer and in the end you are going to end up dying in the water”.

Venus sets: The first big upset came on the tennis courts where four-time gold medalist Venus Williams was bounced by unseeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, the 62nd-ranked player in the world. “Now we are representing 60 million (refugees) around the world”.

The refugee team comprises competitors from Kenya, Syria, Ethiopia, South Sudan and DRC.

“This is a historic moment and these athletes are an inspiration to the world, a testament to the challenges and barriers we can overcome through hard work, dedication and support of a global community”, said UNICEF partnerships specialist David Ponet. She’s even looked beyond the Rio Games, telling the Associated Press, “I hope for more in Tokyo”, the next Olympic Games in 2020. “But the problem was that I had 20 persons with me”.