Germany: Syrian swimmer joins Refugee Olympic Team

crying on the boat and telling me ‘you’re a great girl’ and I was like ‘shut up leave me alone now’ but actually I had to be funny even so close to death because there was a six year-old boy on the boat and I had to some ‘smiles’ at him because I didn’t want him to think we were dying or
something."
Syrian refugee swimmer Yusra Mardini has been selected alongside nine other refugees to join the Refugee Olympic Team at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. The decision was announced on Friday by The International Olympic Committee in Berlin where she was seen training at Olympiastadion.
The 18-year-old, who previously represented Syria at the short-course World Championships in Turkey in 2012, fled the conflict in her home country along with her sister, Sarah, in August 2015 and now resides in Germany. Talking about her journey in the small boat to the Greek Island of Lesbos, Yusra remembers keeping her spirit up despite being in the water. “I had to be funny even so close to death because there was a six year-old boy on the boat and I had to some ‘smiles’ at him because I didn’t want him to think we were dying or something.”
Ten refugees were chosen to march under the Olympic flag in Rio, including athletes from Syria, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Footage courtesy of International Olympic Committee.