The courageous Syrian teenager is set to become one of the faces of the Games, having been one of 10 athletes selected to compete for the Refugee Olympic Team under the flag of the International Olympic Committee.

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The Germany-based athlete explained at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium how she felt she was living "a dream come true" just 11 months after she plunged into the bitingly cold Aegean Sea to help push a sinking dinghy, overcrowded with 20 migrants, to sanctuary.

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Mardini and elder sister Sarah, their home in Damascus having been destroyed in the Syrian conflict, had fled the fighting, trekking through camps in Lebanon. Like thousands of other Syrians, they were seeking to make a new life in Europe by making the treacherous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece in a poorly equipped boat.

The dinghy they were in started taking on water as Mardini, a talented swimmer who had competed for Syria at the 2012 world championships, realised they could all drown. She plunged in with Sarah and two others to push the vessel towards land on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Refugee 'not a bad word'

"We were the only four who knew how to swim. I had one hand with the rope attached to the boat as I moved my two legs and one arm. It was three and half hours in cold water. Your body is almost like…done. I don’t know if I can describe that,” Mardini said.

Was that a nightmarish memory?

"Not at all. I remember that without swimming I would never be alive...it’s a positive memory for me."

The 18-year-old's extraordinary journey finally ended in Berlin, where she was able to resume her swimming career. An invitation to join the refugee Olympic team soon followed. 

She now believes she and her team-mates will be able to "show the world 'refugee' is not a bad word".

Those in the boat whose lives she helped save will be cheering her on from afar as she competes in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

Mardini and fellow Syrian refugee swimmer Rami Anis trained at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio on Thursday (Photo: Rio 2016/André Naddeo)

"They all know that I’m here, they’re always supporting me, saying, 'You deserve it, you're amazing'," she said.

She does not feel like a hero. "Sometimes, it's hard," she said, admitting she was not comfortable being portrayed that way. "But it's amazing to feel like you have been an inspiration for everyone."

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, gave the Games the credo that "the important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle". Now a remarkable 21st century Olympian has offered her own version.

“My message at these Games,” Mardini said, "is just, 'Never give up'."

Rio2016.com has profiled each of the 10 athletes in the Olympic refugee team:

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

Swimming heroine Yusra Mardini comes to Rio 2016 after saving 20 lives

Judo gave Yolande Bukasa Mabika a 'strong heart'

In the midst of war, judo gave Popole Misenga hope