Yusra Mardini has become a popular name in the world of competitive swimming having taken part in two Olympics games, get to know her player profile, brief biography, family, parents and more
Yusra Mardini and her sister Sarah both fled their home country Syria after an intense war broke out.
Who Is Swimmer Yusra Mardini, Her Age, Biography, Family, Parents, Mother, Cousin, Sister, Medals List
Yusra Mardini left her home country because of war but managed to continue her sport and reach the Olympics. She is now the focus of a new film on Netflix called “The Swimmers.”
Al Jazeera spoke to Yusra ahead of the film’s release ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/c15TGnT4i9
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 19, 2022
How has sport saved your life?
Tell us in the replies ✍️ 👇@YusraMardini #TheSwimmers pic.twitter.com/99SQsJ0PKl
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) November 17, 2022
The two Mardini sisters faced a number of troubles and perils while fleeing from their war-torn country.
One particular incident was when their dinghy’s motor stopped working while fleeing Syria. The two sisters along with some other passengers had to get into the water and push the boat for around three hours before eventually reaching land.
Netflix have also released a movie about the inspiring lives of the two sisters, titled ‘The Swimmers’.
Player Profile
- Team – IOC Refugee Olympic Team
- Sport – Swimming
- Games Participations – 2
- First Olympic Games – Rio 2016
- Year of Birth – 1998
Brief Biography
Yusra Mardini was born on 5 March 1998, in Darayya, Syria. She has a sister named Sarah Mardini, with whom she fled Syria. Yusra stands at a height of 1.68 m or 5.5 feet and is currently aged at 24-years-old.
Sara and Yusra’s father, Ezzat Mardini, also grew up swimming and, as the movie shows, he served as their swim coach until they left Syria. In 2015, he and his wife, Mervat, decided that their eldest daughters needed to live someplace else. Sara and Yusra have a younger sister named Shaed who is a teen now, and was living with her mother in an apartment in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf neighborhood as of 2017.
In The Swimmers, the girls travel with their male cousin, Nizar. Unfortunately, he’s not a real person, but he’s based on real people who are related to the sisters.
Even before the war in Syria, Yusra regularly represented her country in international competitions as a competitive swimmer. Following the intense war, Yusra and her sister left Damascus in August 2015 and eventually reached Berlin in September 2015.
Since fleeing to Germany, Yusra has been training out her heart at the Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 club. The club works in collaboration with the Elite Schools of Sport in Berlin.
Yusra won the right to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympics as a member of the first Refugee Olympic Team. Following which the UN appointed her as the youngest ever UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador later in April 2017. Yusra also went on participate in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, this time again as part of the Refugee Olympic Team.
Olympic Results
| Team | Result | Sport | Event | |
| IOC Refugee Olympic Team | Tokyo 2020 | # n/a | Swimming | Women’s 100m Butterfly |
| Rio 2016 | # 40 | Swimming | 100 metres Freestyle | |
| Rio 2016 | # 45 | Swimming | 100 metres Butterfly |
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