Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini who inspired Netflix film returns to Syria after 10 years
Olympic swimmer and Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini, whose story inspired the 2022 Netflix film The Swimmers, returned to Syria ten years after she fled the civil war to Europe.
While crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece in 2015, she not only survived but along with her sister heroically saved the lives of everyone onboard her dinghy. In the middle of the tumultuous journey, the boat's engine gave in. The two sisters jumped into the water and swam beside the boat for several hours, navigating it to safety.
After having found refuge in Germany, Mardini went on to compete as a member of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and then again at the games in Tokyo.
She had not been to Syria since.
'I can't believe this moment is real. After 10 years, I'm back at the pool where it all began, the place where I dreamed of competing at the Olympics, where I fell in love with swimming, and where so much of my journey started,' she said Thursday on Instagram.
In 2017 at the age of 19, Mardini was appointed the youngest-ever Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
'So much has changed, yet it still feels like home. I never knew if I'd ever see this place again, and now, standing on this pool deck, I'm overwhelmed with emotions, gratitude, nostalgia, and pure joy. This pool shaped me, and today I get to be here again…I'm home,' she added.
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The inspiring 27-year-old has penned her memoir Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian – My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph.
She also launched The Yusra Mardini Foundation, a non-profit organization working toward providing access to sports and education to refugees.
In December last year, an opposition coalition in Syria ousted then-president Bashar al-Assad in a lightening offensive, ending an authoritarian regime, which started with his father in 1971.
Earlier this year, Ahmed al-Sharaa, then the leader of the opposition group which led al-Assad's overthrow, was appointed president.
Syrians everywhere largely welcomed the toppling of al-Assad, emphasizing the need to be cautiously optimistic about the new government.
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