00:00As she lined up on the starting block, it seemed unlikely that she was going to win.
00:04But Yusra Mardini was racing for much more than an Olympic medal.
00:10When Yusra learnt to swim at four years old, she was a natural.
00:14And before long, she was competing in races.
00:16And she eventually went on to represent Syria at the World Swimming Championships when she was only 14 years old.
00:22It was just one more step closer to her ultimate goal of eventually competing at the Olympics.
00:28However, even while competing against the world's best, it was hard to ignore what was happening at home.
00:34The Syrian civil war had erupted just one year earlier.
00:37And as the conflict broke out and eventually crept closer and closer to Yusra's home,
00:42her family tried to maintain some sense of normalcy.
00:45But that soon became impossible when the fighting came to their front door.
00:49So in 2015, Yusra and her sister Sarah finally made the difficult decision to leave their home country.
00:55And before long, they were setting off on a brutal 25-day journey with 18 other people all crammed into
01:02a six-person dinghy.
01:03However, during the journey, when the engine on the dinghy failed just as they were finally starting to draw close
01:09to land,
01:10Yusra, Sarah and two others leapt into the freezing cold water, swimming next to the dinghy and dragging their people
01:16to safety.
01:17And after three agonizing hours of swimming in the dark, frigid ocean, at last, they spotted land.
01:23Once they made it to shore, Yusra and Sarah traveled to Germany, where they settled as refugees.
01:28Despite the harrowing experience, it didn't hamper Yusra's love for swimming.
01:32If anything, it made her fall in love with the sport even more.
01:35Yusra soon joined a local swimming club and returned to training once again,
01:39hoping that one day soon she could return home and represent Syria in the Olympics.
01:44However, as the months went on and as she started settling into life in Germany,
01:48it became clear that she wasn't going back.
01:50But just when she thought that her Olympic dreams had been destroyed,
01:54that's when Yusra discovered a new team that would be making their debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics,
02:00the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
02:02At first, Yusra ignored the opportunity.
02:05She still didn't really identify herself as a refugee.
02:07She was Syrian.
02:09However, her coach eventually convinced her to apply for the team,
02:12and she became one of just 10 athletes who were chosen to participate.
02:15And as the athletes walked into Rio to a standing ovation,
02:19it was only then that Yusra realized she wasn't just there to compete.
02:23She was there to be a voice for refugees just like her.
02:27I really miss Damascus.
02:28I want everyone to think of their dreams because a lot of people there forgot their dreams.
02:34Yusra competed in the 100m butterfly and she won her first heat.
02:38She was selected to carry the refugee team flag at the 2020 Olympics.
02:42Netflix made a movie about her life and she continues to inspire countless people
02:47all around the world without even needing to win an Olympic medal.
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