“I was just trying to survive” – Yusra Mardini shares her story from Syria to Olympic stage
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Yusra Mardini
Yusra Mardini shares how much she has learned since leaving her homeland Syria and traveling all the way to the Olympic stage. The journey was not easy, but Mardini and her sister Sarah took the chance to travel into the unknown. Though their path was filled with fear and uncertainty they found the light after landing in Germany.
Yusra thought their stop at Germany was only till the war situation in Syria settled in, but fate had something different in store. The path to greatness was never easy. All the Olympians in the world had to overcome their own weakness to take the center stage spotlight. Yusra and Sarah’s journey once again proved the notion right.
She stated, “We had to risk everything for our basic human rights and start a new life. It was really hard for me because I was abandoning everything: our belongings, my family, my friends, my home, everything.” Not only did the sisters escape their war-stricken land, but also helped save other refugees.
Yusra Mardini and Sarah Mardini shares their story
Sarah Mardini shared how she and her sister felt that the state accusations made them feel saving a human life is a crime. Despite all the challenges they found their second home in Germany. Yusra noted, “I didn’t really accept living in Germany at first because I thought I would be there only for a while, and then we could go back home when the war ended”.
“The one thing that made me feel like home again was swimming.” Shortly after she started her breathing through swimming. Her training at Wasserfreunde Spandau Club paid off the next year when she got a shot at Rio Olympics. Yusra Mardini became part of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team.
“You don’t choose to become a refugee, you leave your country because of war and violence”. “Now, the word ‘refugee’ means so many things to me. In the beginning, I was in denial of it. But then I realised that it’s just a word, and it doesn’t matter what the word means. I am who I am,” she said.
The Netflix movie “The Swimmers” tells the story of not only her life but the life of all refugees who go through similar experiences. “Sometimes life takes you to places that you would not imagine ever being in”. “But this movie tells the story of millions of refugees all around the world, it’s not just my story.”
Yusra acknowledges that the only cornerstone of her life is swimming, “Swimming has taught me a lot: it has taught me patience; it has taught me to know when to ask for help; it saved my life”. “Most of all, it taught me to try again. If you’re going through something tough, it doesn’t mean that it is over.”
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Kaushani Chatterjee
(2162 Articles Published)