Tokyo Olympics: Angelina Jolie hears how refugee athlete swam for 3½ hours to escape war in Syria
- The Hollywood star and UNHCR special envoy takes part in virtual chat with swimmer Yusra Mardini, Paralympian Abbas Karimi and runner Anjelina Nadai Lohalith
- Mardini says her example is only one of millions when it comes to refugees who escape war and hardship in search of safety
Hollywood star and UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie praised the “strength and resilience” of athletes from the IOC Refugee Olympic Team as she heard the story of swimmer Yusra Mardini, who swam three and a half hours in the Aegean Sea after fleeing war-torn Syria.
The 23-year-old Mardini, who is hosted by the German National Olympic Committee, has been hailed as a hero for her epic swim after the dinghy carrying her, her older sister and many others broke down after leaving Turkey. However, she pointed out that her story, in which she and her older sister crossed several countries illegally, was just one among millions.
“To be honest, when I talk about this story I know a lot of the people and a lot of media make it out to be, saying I am a hero and all of that. Thank you for that,” Mardini said. “But then I remember, I’m always trying to tell the story because I want them to know that this is one of the millions [of] stories.
“You have a really small dinghy and it’s [used] for vacations and seven people go on it usually. And we were liked packed on it, 20 people. Usually it’s about 10 kilometres and takes about 45 minutes to Greece from Turkey, and unfortunately, our boat engine didn’t work any more after 15 minutes and the more brave person was my sister.
“She was the first one to jump into the water and I jumped from the other side. Before she went into the water she told me ‘if anything happens, swim. Go. Don’t wait for me’.