While watching the high level of competition at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, I marvel at the young athletes that appear on the screen. Many are young adults at their peak performance during the normal college years. Each runner, volleyball player, or diver is highly-competitive and successful.
As an an athlete myself, I am amazed at the level of talent it takes each athlete to get to this world event. The hours of training, recuperation during physical therapy, and mental strength and desire it takes to get this level is incredible.
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On top of the difficulty of achieving Olympic qualifications many have to deal with personal hardships. The Refugee Olympic Team- the ROT- is a group of ten athletes that have, or currently are, going through impossible challenges. They are a symbol of hope for refugees worldwide and bring global attention to the magnitude of the refugee crisis. These athletes, not by choice, have had to overcome struggles that I, nor many, could even begin to understand.
While learning about the various stories of the refugees, I came across one athlete that stood out to me. Her name is Yusra Mardini and she is Syrian swimmer who is a member of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, competing under the Olympic flag. Mardini is swimming the 100m freestyle and has already completed the 100m butterfly with a 1:09.21 time, winning her preliminary heat.
All of the refugee athletes have a story, and a heartbreaking one at that, but Yusra was different to me because in many ways I could relate to her.
She is a 19-year old swimmer.
I am a 19-year old swimmer.
In retrospect, we are both female athletes of the same sport, yet it would be ignorant of me to say that we are similar.
Mardini fled her unsafe country by boarding a refugee boat with 18 other people of all ages. During their dangerous crossing in the Mediterranean Sea last summer, there was a motor failure. In desperation and need to arrive to safety, her sister and only a few other refugees, jumped into the freezing water to pull the boat to safety.
With an interview with Independent, the Syrian refugee speaks out saying, “It’s quite hard to just to think that you are a swimmer and you’re going to end up dying in the water which you know best.”
It took three hours to pull the boat to the dark, Greek Island of Lesbos. But for all of it, Yusra maintained a smile in order to not put fear into one of the 6-year-old boys in the boat. She was the light that guided the boat in the midst of the darkness. For the last year, Mardini has been out of her country training in the 1936 Olympic pool facility in Berlin. Her country's civil war left her family homeless and in unsafe territory.
While I know I can’t relate to her, I am cheering Yusra on, and I hope her athleticism and story can open the eyes to the world of the 60 million refugees that are in the world today- the highest point since World War II. Her story struck me and fascinated me with the idea that we are the same age, play the same sport, yet have completely different lives. And regardless of the fact that some people are made to do different things, Yusra Mardini is a better athlete than me, and she has had to go through more things and most likely have been given less opportunities than I have in these 19 years.
It is hard for me to cheer on just the United States, when the Refugee Olympic Team is the real team all the nations should be cheering for.
man running in forestPhoto by 
