Ten refugee athletes made history on Friday evening marching into Maracana Stadium in Brazil during the Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. For the first time in the history of the modern Olympics a team has been formed only by refugees in order to bring attention to the issue of the refugee crisis.
Earlier this week, IOC President Thomas Bach presented the entire 10-member team one by one to all members of the IOC and paid tribute to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, for having stood by the athletes and helped create the teams in a 20-year-long association with the Olympic body. “These athletes set the example of peaceful coexistence in the whole world. They show that it is possible to engage in competition and live in peace together at the same time. This is the true spirit of Olympic unity and diversity,” he declared.
Yusra Mardini, an 18-year-old Syrian swimmer and member of the Olympic refugee team, fled her hometown, Damascus, with her little sister and made the dangerous trip to Europe.
Yusra was forced to swim for her life when the inflatable dinghy she boarded with her sister to cross from Turkey to Greece started sinking in the Aegean Sea. The two girls ended up on the Greek island of Lesvos. “It was, like, quite hard just to think that you’re a swimmer and in the end you’re going to end up dying in the water,” Mardini said in an interview with the IOC.
However, her story had a happy ending. Both girls were able to reach Germany and set up their life there. Yusra and her teammates hope that their struggles and stories will bring hope to people and leave their own mark in history.
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