Refugee’s Rio journey hard to beat
Syrian swimmer Mardini wins butterfly heat but team’s tale transcends times and medals
In the water, Yusra Mardini feels alive. In the water, Yusra Mardini swam for her life. In the water, Yusra Mardini helped to save the lives of many others.
Not the calm chlorinated blue water of the Olympic aquatics centre, where the 18-year-old won her 100-metre butterfly heat Saturday afternoon, in what was the most heralded competition of Day 1 at the Rio Games, for reasons that transcend sports.
But in the open water of the sea, where Mardini and her younger sister Sarah plunged, after the motor on their refugee-crowded rubber dinghy stalled and the boat began to take on water. Possessions were thrown overboard, everybody in a panic.
Setting off from Turkey they were headed for the Greek island of Lesbos in the middle of the night last August. Only three of the “passengers,’’ which included several children, knew how to swim.
Yusra and Sarah, struggling against the waves, each held onto one side of the dinghy, kicking their legs, swimming with one arm holding fast to a rope and tugging the boat alongside with the other.
For more than three hours the girls swam and pulled.
“Me and my sister were holding on to the boat with one hand and doing the breaststroke with the other hand and legs. It was 3 1⁄ hours in cold water. Your
2 body is almost, like, done.
“It was like my life was passing through my eyes,” says Mardini, who speaks fluent English. “We put the rope around our hands because even I couldn’t swim (well) with waves like that. I thought it would be a real shame if I drowned in the sea because I’m a swimmer.”
Within sight of land, Mardini finally collapsed back inside the dinghy, passport and smart phone and money still tucked safely in a plastic bag.
She thought about her parents, who were tracking their daughters’ movements from the phone’s GPS device. “Of course I was scared for my life and my sister’s life. I was also scared that I would make it, for example, and something would happen to my sister. And what that would do to my mom.”
“I thought it would be a real shame if I drowned in the sea because I’m a swimmer.” YUSRA MARDINI OF TEAM REFUGEE IN RIO RECALLS HER ESCAPE TO FREEDOM
And still, upon touching shore, it was just the beginning of a 1,000-mile trek — 25-day slog — with nights spend hiding in the woods, dodging authorities and bandits. From Greece to Macedonia to Serbia to Hungary to Austria and finally seeking asylum in Germany. One of the first things Mardini did was scout out the public swimming pools, to resume her competitive passion, before securing government financing within Germany’s elite sports school system and entrée to a private swimming club.
She has been a swimmer since age 3, daughter of a swim coach. The water was always a comfort and even more so when she embarked on the life of a refugee.
Driven away from the upper-middle class existence she’d enjoyed in Damascus until civil war broke out and the family’s home came under fire. Before the upheaval, Mardini had been an elite swimmer in Syria targeting the 2020 Olympics.
“Sometimes we couldn’t train because of the war. And sometimes we’d be swimming in pools where the roofs were blown open in two or three places.”
She did not want to flee, joining the exodus of millions looking for a safe harbour in the world. But what future could there be in her warbesieged country? Certainly she understood the risks. “Maybe I’m going to die on the way,” she told herself. “But I’m almost dead in my country.’’
Convincing herself: “You are stronger than you think.”
Deep inside, undaunted by the odds, there was also the urge to become an Olympian. “It’s in my heart. I wanted to achieve something. The Olympics is everything. It’s a life chance. It’s a different life in the water. You throw all your problems out. It’s a different world for me.”
And here she is, there she was on Saturday, taking her starting position in an Olympic pool, in front of an embracing crowd that well sensed the meaning of the moment as Mardini became the first of the Team Refugee contingent to compete in Rio, mere hours after participating — but leaving early — in the opening ceremony, representing no country.
“The ceremony was really amazing, but I couldn’t stay because I had to compete.”
These 10 athletes of Team Refugee, sponsored by the United Nations and the IOC, are truly the heart and soul of these Games. They put to shame all the minor complaints of journalists and fans carping about the so-called hardships of the Rio Olympics. We can only imagine.
Because somebody had the brilliant idea to pluck a tiny group of the homeless and stateless — some of them directly from refugee camps — who met the minimum performance requirements for the Olympics. They’re not here out of mere kindness; they earned the right to be Olympians.
Mardini’s remarkable story isn’t even exceptional within her team, which symbolizes the hopes and aspirations of some 65 million displaced souls on Planet Earth: six men and four women from South Sudan, Syria, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, contesting in swimming, athletics and judo.
They’re not necessarily as you may have pictured them. Some, like Mardini, knew of a life of ease before disaster struck. She wants to remind people of that. “They think we lived in some desert,” she says, speaking only for herself. “No, we had everything, just like you.’’
She speaks articulately and has become accustomed to the media spotlight since receiving the news that she would be Rio-bound.
From a swamped dinghy to touching the wall of the Olympic pool in 1:09.21. For a few precious minutes, Mardini was a winner. She heard the roar of the crowd — for her. That was magical, even if her time wasn’t fast enough to qualify for the semifinal. She placed 41st overall.
“Everything was amazing,” she enthused afterwards. “It was the only thing I ever wanted, to compete in the Olympics.
“I had a good feeling in the water. Competing with all these great champions is exciting. I’ve only been back swimming for two years, so we’re only now getting back to my levels of before.’’
This was for her and for every other refugee, however small or large their dreams.
“I want to have all the refugees proud of me. It would show that even if we had a tough journey, we can achieve something. We want to show everyone that we can do anything. Good athletes. Good people.’’
Great memories that will, she hopes, overtake bad memories of a young girl and the sea. Because she hates open water.
“I look the sea now and I just feel faint.”