“All the people on the boat were praying. It was quite hard to think that you are a swimmer and you might end up dying in the water.”

Just two years ago, during a perilous crossing in the Mediterranean Sea, Yusra Mardini was forced to swim for her life and the lives of her fellow refugees. This August, the 18-year-old Syrian will be swimming at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games representing the first ever Olympic refugee team.

Before leaving her home country, Mardini represented Syria at the world swimming championships (Photo: Getty Images/Alexander Hassenstein)

As the Syrian War intensified in 2014, Mardini and her sister left their home in Damascus, travelling to Beirut, Istanbul and finally Izmir in Turkey, where they embarked on their journey across the Mediterranean to the Greek island of Lesbos.

During the sea crossing, the motor on their dinghy suddenly stopped. The tiny vessel meant only for six people was at risk of capsizing, with 20 desperate passengers huddled on board. Mardini, her sister and one other woman took to the water and pushed the boat until it reached the shore, saving the lives of everyone.

“Only four out of 20 on the boat knew how to swim,” says Mardini, who represented Syria at the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships. “It would have been shameful if the people on our boat had drowned. I wasn’t going to sit there.”

Refugee athletes feel at home at Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Village

Mardini has started a new life in Berlin (Photo: IOC)

Following her act of heorism, last September Mardini arrived in Berlin where her swimming talent was soon recognised by Wasserfreunde Spandau 04, one of the city’s oldest swimming clubs. After excelling there, earlier this month she was named as one of the 10 athletes who will form part of the first ever Olympic refugee team.

While she has come a long way from her home in Damascus, she says that she has not taken her journey for granted or forgotten those who have supported her on her way. “I think (at the Games) I will think about my family, my coach, my friends and everyone that has helped me,” she says.

By participating in the Games, she hopes to be a source of inspiration and hope for Syrians and other refugees. “I want to show everyone that after the pain, after the storm, come calm days.”

World Refugee Day

As the United Nations (UN) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) commemorate World Refugee Day this Monday (20 June), IOC president Thomas Bach said he hopes that the first Olympic refugee team will be “a symbol of hope” to other refugees and a “signal to the international community”, raising awareness about the severity of the global refugee crisis.

Syrian refugee calls for peace after carring Olympic torch in Athens

To mark the day, the IOC declared its solidarity with refugees such as Mardini. “The International Olympic Committee commemorates the strength, courage and perseverance of the over 50 million refugees across the world, and how sport can contribute to their healing,” the organisation said in a statement on Monday.

For 20 years, the IOC and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have been collaborating to offer sport relief for refugees in camps around the world.

Global initiative

In 2015 the IOC announced a special two million dollar fund available to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) for refugee-focused programmes and called upon them to identify refugee athletes with the potential to qualify for the Olympic Games.

This initiative resulted in the creation of the Refugee Olympic Team for Rio 2016. Along with Yusra Mardini, the team will include one other Syrian swimmer, five South Sudanese runners, two Congolese Judokas and a marathon runner from Ethiopia.

Brazil to welcome refugee team with 'open arms'

Mardini now lives and trains in the German capital Berlin (Photo: Getty Images/Alexander Hassenstein)

The refugee team will compete under the Olympic flag and the Olympic anthem will be played in their honour. Like the other delegations, the team will stay in the Athletes’ Village and will be accompanied by an entourage of coaches, medical staff and other officials.

Rio2016.com is profiling each of the 10 athletes in the Olympic refugee team. Also see:

Syrian swimmer Rami Anis’s journey from Aleppo to the Rio 2016 Games

Yiech Pur Biel, the ‘Lost Boy’ who found a sense of belonging in athletics

James Chiengjiek’s escape from the clutches of war to Rio 2016

Prolific marathon runner Yonas Kinde finally able to compete at Olympic Games

Anjelina Nadai Lohalith hopes Rio 2016 success will reunite her with parents

Shoeless Rose Nathike Lokonyen becomes envoy for peace

Paulo Amotun Lokoro the cattle herder turned refugee turned Olympian