Before Yusra Mardini was swimming for medals, she was quite literally swimming for survival. In August 2015, while fleeing the Syrian Civil War at just seventeen, she found herself stranded in the middle of the Aegean Sea when the motor on her dinghy failed during a crossing from Turkey to Greece.
Rather than letting the boat drift, she, her sister Sara, and two others jumped into the water and pushed the vessel for hours, saving the lives of all eighteen people on board. That harrowing journey transformed her into a global symbol of resilience and by April 2017, at the age of nineteen, she was appointed as the youngest Goodwill Ambassador in the history of the UNHCR, using her platform to champion the cause of displaced people everywhere.
Rather than letting the boat drift, she, her sister Sara, and two others jumped into the water and pushed the vessel for hours, saving the lives of all eighteen people on board. That harrowing journey transformed her into a global symbol of resilience and by April 2017, at the age of nineteen, she was appointed as the youngest Goodwill Ambassador in the history of the UNHCR, using her platform to champion the cause of displaced people everywhere.